#wanted to do serious style episode posters but this is all i got in me atm im afraid

[dykepaldi]

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TWELVECLARA I LOVE U FOREVER ‼️‼️‼️

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

April 2021 Part 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Second Chance Ep 1 - living up to its name since it looks to be a series of redemption arcs. Launched with a college confession and a broken friendship, then a flash back to them as seniors in high school. Pairings include friends to lovers, nerd/jock, and maybe cafe boss/employee. There’s a lot going on, but it’s still... quiet and sweet. The script is pretty pat but it’s still WAY more watchable than Cupid Coach or Brothers and most of the acting is solid. Ep 1 tropes included: he’s in engineering, wound tending, fast & bicurious. This could turn into what I wanted My Gear & Your Gown to be. Fingers crossed. 

Love Poison 2 Ep 1 & 2 turns out I did watch and report on season 1 (8 eps), season 2 seems equally unmemorable. Thai countryside setting, strong dialect, incomprehensible plot, camp side characters, and ghastly singing. 

Y-Destiny Ep 1 (eng subs?) - opened with the sports romance enemies to lovers (they aren’t going in the teaser order). When the couple got over fighting, the flirting was v cute, but the flipping SPONGE BATH trope had to rear its ugly head. Still, this series is shaping up to be less coy and more frank than most BL, better than expected. It feels, I don’t know, gay-er or something?  *** Sources were correct that each couple is getting (at least) 2 eps, and MDL has been updated to say this is a 15 episode series (not 7). 

Cupid Coach 12 fin - The new Nite was great and should have been a main all along. It felt like we got a tiny nugget of what could have been in about 10 minutes worth of this last ep. It was way too slow with terrible editing and a criminally bad script, but at least it ended happy. Mostly, like Friend Forever, I’m just disappointed that these two actors were done dirty by the series. Bad Cupid Coach, no screen caps for you. 

Lovely Writer Ep 6 - breaking news, there’s a het couple I like: toppy bi femme + soft boi = such a good pairing! I know, but this NEVER happens. Meanwhile, Sib’s secret is out, Gene is a bit of a drama queen, and the plot thickens. We half way through.  

Brothers Ep 9 - Kaow had a serious moment of advice giving that was truly lovely. Lots of family dama made this a superior episode to... well... any of the others in this series. Which isn’t saying much. 

1000 Stars Ep 10 fin - at the start this series didn’t grab me the way GMMTV’s last BL, Tonhon Chonlatee, did. But boy did it end 1000x better. Might have given us 2021′s best forehead kiss. I enjoyed the ultra romantic cliff-top reunion kiss, and I LOVED the stinger flirting scene. That was an absolute gift we had no right to expect. This drama is a poster child for finishing on a high note (always focus on that dessert course). Final thoughts? This was FAR more a classic romance than it was BL. There were some BL tropes used but not many and most of them originated in the romance genre not yaoi. A picture perfect ending bumped 1000 Stars much higher up my best-of list than expected. Not sure how often I’ll rewatch it as a whole, but this last episode? I’m probably rewatching it right now. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 3 fin - I guess that’s it? Okaaaaay  

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 3 (AKA Ep 5-6) - we got actual legit gay culture not just BL (always appreciated) from XingSi. I’m starting to find LiCheng’s “show them we fucking” hijinks hilarious rather than annoying (not sure why, maybe I just love a rubber chicken, or maybe it was the STUFFED CORN WITH THE TASSEL that did it). 

-- H4 Moment of RANT --

Tropes included beach trip, there’s only one bed, cook for him, baby is a floppy drunk, carry baby to bed, and.... drunk non-con. Whoopdedoo. Here we go again. Did TharnType teach us NOTHING? (Apparently it taught us if the chemistry is good enough, I have no morals at all.) At least H4 seems to be taking us out of cheese into serious when it comes to assault. Or is it? 

I take back what I said last week about XingSi & YongJie being codependency + salvation trope, that only works if YongJie is the uke. He’s NOT. So we got us an obsessive predatory villain with a possible redemption arc. That’s more common in crime dramas, mafia romance, and epic fantasy than BL. It’s real hard to redeem a sexual predator in a reality-grounded universe like contemporary romance (See Kla in LBC1&2). 

Next week is gonna be a test of the whole damn franchise. Imma remind both me a you that this was ep 3 of 10 so we got a ways to go yet... but ooof, what have we wrought, BL? (I ended up doing a whole post about the stepbrother trope because of this sub plot.) Taiwan is killing me.

-- RANT ended --

Word of Honor (China) Ep 19-21 - over half way point so we got ALL the back story (in a classic 4 act story structure midway reveal). Now we know who WKX really is and his lineage. We also got some cute hugs and hand holds. Moving along at a nice clip despite being 36 eps total. Still gayest thing to come out of we-not-gay China since Advance Bravely. 

Most Peaceful Place (Vietnam) Ep 2 - takes them a while to get eng subs together and ep 2 didn’t drop until late. So I’m putting this in a Thurs time slot going forward. Miscommunication already cleared up and a 2nd couple has been introduced. The pacing on these Vietnamese BLs is always a bit... off. But it’s still better than most of its ilk, enjoyable. I’m thinking it’s a 6 ep arc. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 5 - after the initial drama DRAMA of ep 2, the current external crisis at work is much quieter, giving this whole season a top heavy feel. Taken along side the first season, I think it’s fitting nicely into a 4 act structure, but that might be my bias. I hope I’m not wrong, we’ll find out next week. Shi De puttering about being domestic with Shu Yi on his back was the best execution of the piggyback trope EVER. Meanwhile, our little D/s side couple of codependency, salvation trope + mental illness is becoming weirdly appealing. I don’t know. H4 done mess with my head. 

Stand Alones 

Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko  (Japan) Ep 1-4 mini series. Found subs under A Man Who Defies The World of BL. IT’S HILARIOUS. It’s Japan making fun of us, but also itself for having started this whole BL nonsense - from yaoi roots to present day. It’s parody goddamn gold. Utterly cheeky unto the very last line. We are not worthy. 

Apparently the most powerful tropes of all time are: baby is a floppy drunk and the piggyback fo nobility. Oh and chocolate. {Full review here.} 

Honestly, this show may have been made with only @heretherebedork and I in mind. I don’t know if you’d even understand half of it if you don’t have a history with the manga source genre and an obsessive interest in underlying narrative devices. I haven’t seen much chatter in the blog’o’sphere on this one because, in the end, it’s not a romance at all, it’s social commentary. 

The ending line was a masterclass in lampooning a genre. I’m going to rewatch the whole thing just to catch all the digs I missed first time around. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. 

Thank you Japan. I forgive you all your hair-styling sins of the last decade. 

Breaking News 

Spring Line Up:

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) April 15th 

Close Friend the series (Thai trailer) April 22. 

2gether the movie (Thai trailer) April 22 to Thai theaters.

Nitiman (Thai) May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 (Thai) May 27 on LineTV

Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong) June to Viu 

Gossip 

Bad Buddies released its first promo op via Arm Share, which means GMMTV is at least *thinking* about filming it. 

Fun behind the scenes gossip sesh with eng subs for Tell the World I Love You (that Perth Bas movie we are maybe getting someday but will likely be sad). 

New Thai BL Bite Me (adapted from novel Grab a Bite) dropped a teaser. It stars Mark Siwat (Kla in LBC) as uke character Ake, a delivery boy with special foodie powers, and chef Eua (seme played by Zung Kidakorn) who discovers him. It’s from the same author as Manner of Death so we might even get some actual plot. Since it’s an established BL actor who I happen LOVE, a known author, and a plot about FOOD, I could not me more excited for this one. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons. Some are dropping multiples at a time but just started so I’m not sure on numbering. 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[janamelie]

Dimension Jump XXI Report

I suppose I’m a DJ veteran now as this was my fifth consecutive one and the fourth at the Nottingham Crowne Plaza which is an expensive four-star hotel.  Sharing with a friend helps keep the cost reasonable and honestly, it’s worth it for the sheer convenience of being right there in the hotel and being able to nip back to your room as required.  (To be clear, you don’t have to stay in the hotel to attend the con.  There are plenty of other hotels nearby.)

Plus there is always the chance that you’ll see a guest at breakfast as I did Danny once.  He picked out a few pieces of fruit and nibbled at them before wandering over late to his photoshoot.  What else would you expect from a cat though?

Friday

Myself and @downonthepharm-red-dwarf (Amy) had arrived the previous day so had plenty of time to be near the front of the queue for registration.  Which meant we saw Hattie Hayridge arrive in a stunning designer coat and with smart luggage.  She really brought her outfit A-game and looked great the whole weekend.

Once we’d presented our respective proofs of full Covid vaccination or a recent negative test, we were given our DJ passes and booklets.  The latter has spaces for signatures from guests, an Order Of Events and various handy tips for the weekend.

The con kicks off at 5pm with an hour of gradual build-up in the Main Hall - they show videos from previous events, specially made titbits with various guests past and present such as Mark Dexter doing a mock guide to DJ and Rebecca Blackstone voicing Pree.  It all helps with the atmosphere, as do the numerous RD posters dotted around the hotel.

Then it was time for the Opening Ceremony featuring various Fan Club team members and an overcrowded stage full of cardboard boxes - the joke was that they’d had too much time on their hands during lockdowns and bought loads of stuff online.  It was obviously also a nod to Lister’s hoarding in “The Promised Land”.  

The sketch featured a specially made shot of the AA adverts’ Starbug model landing outside the Crowne Plaza and an 80s computerised version of the lovely convention logo.  You could tell a lot of loving effort had gone into the whole thing.

Once the guest line-up had been announced (I’ll get to that not-really-a-surprise-guest shortly), we went straight into the RD Pub Quiz, hosted by Hattie.  DOTP and I had been joined at our table by Lapsang and Barbs from our Discord (No Kind Of Atmosphere) plus various other attendees we’d befriended.

Someone in the crowd yelled “I love you, Hattie!” to which she quipped “I’ve pulled already!”  Another bloke shouted “Fuck off, she’s mine!” which led to a few shouts of “Fight!”  When neither seemed keen to do so, Hattie joked: “Only two?  That’s a bit pathetic!” and then we got started.

The quiz is hard, by design, but I’m good at quizzes and my team - No Kind Of Atmosphere after our Discord - came joint third which was gratifying.  (I was on the winning team a few DJs ago, to blow my own trumpet for a moment.  This is my report, after all.)

And then it was time for the first guest Q&A with - surprise, surprise - Johnny Vegas aka the Crit Cop in “Timewave”.  Not a great episode but he more than made up for that with an appearance I can only describe as chaotic.  Warning - DO NOT attempt to heckle him unless you want to be singled out and humiliated in front of the entire audience in a “Can’t look away” fashion which was nonetheless entertaining.  The man in question tweeted about it afterwards and seems to have taken it in good spirit.

Once we’d moved on from encouraging people to leave unpleasant things in room 429, it turned out Johnny’s a big fan of the show and owned it on VHS (so did I).  He thinks of the main characters, Holly would win at “Taskmaster” and had good reasons for that conclusion.  

He was dubious about the pink costume he wore in “Timewave” as he thought it might take away from the character but said he eventually decided he needed to get over what he was wearing and just go for it.  He also said one of his worst working moments was on “Benidorm” when he had to hold his breath underwater in a freezing swimming pool and his co-star kept forgetting her two lines so they had over 30 takes.  Ouch.

Johnny left commenting that he got less love at his 50th birthday party.  But we hadn’t seen the last of him by any means as people kept buying him drinks during the Auction, leading to him successfully bidding for one of the items on offer.

And then he was back for the Karaoke.  Now if you - as he informed us - had to undergo emergency dental surgery in the morning and had practically lost your voice, would you sing karaoke?  And not only that, would you sing a version of “Love On The Rocks” which lasted 11 minutes according to someone on Twitter (I wasn’t timing it, but I can believe it), followed by the full-length version of “American Pie”?

If you answered no, you’re clearly not Johnny Vegas.  He went to bed so late that the unfortunate Fan Club team member assigned to look after him got a grand total of 90 minutes’ sleep.

Saturday

DOTP and I had paid for the Photoshoot with Mr Vegas, Danny John-Jules and Ray Fearon.  We got in the queue at 9am which was when it was supposed to start.  An hour later we were still waiting.  Yep, Danny was late.

Once he made it to the hotel, I got my photo in front of a Science Room backdrop.  You might think Mr Vegas would be hungover and rushing through it, but on the contrary, he was still enjoying the hell out of proceedings which was refreshing to see.  Since he’d been added to the line-up too late to be in the souvenir booklet, he signed extra inserts for the Fan Club which they handed out to everyone at the later Autograph sessions so attendees got his autograph after all even though he’d finally left.  That’s what I call throwing yourself into an event.

Next up was a combined Q&A with Danny and Ray (originally separate but Danny’s lateness meant they were teamed up).  This wasn’t a problem at all though - on the contrary, it worked really well as the chumminess between them added to the vibe.  Also it was Ray’s first convention so he probably preferred to have Danny backing him up, especially since the poor man tripped on his way to the stage and almost fell.  I don’t think he was hurt but I cringed with secondhand embarrassment and empathy.  He wasn’t the only one to fall foul of the edge of the stage that weekend; I think it was the slightly raised dancefloor in front of it.

As is usual for Danny, we were treated to over half an hour of what you can only really describe as a stream of consciousness as he pontificated about various things.  He and Ray did also talk about working together on “Death In Paradise” and Ray described his worst working experience there - he had to play a scene in a club in 45 degree heat with a live snake wrapped around his neck!

Ray is attractive in a “Hollywood hunk” way and Danny was clearly conscious of this, joking that he’d “brought his own security with him” and muttering “I’m better-looking anyway!”  But all in a jokey way as they’re clearly friends.

Danny had come from filming and dropped a heavy hint that he’s appearing in a Dickens adaptation which I imagine will be shown at Christmas as they generally are.  He also complained that Craig Charles never answers his phone: “You send him a message and he answers it on Twitter a month later!”  (Interestingly, Chris Barrie later mentioned a recent phone conversation with Craig so make of that what you will.)

Ray was quieter but happy to talk about the vagaries of showbiz and typecasting - he said that due to his Shakespearean background he gets a lot of serious roles so people were genuinely surprised that he could also do comedy but “I was always funny!”  He also gently teased Danny about the age of some of his references before admitting he still finds Tommy Cooper funny.

Danny usually performs “Tongue-tied” with a good grace when inevitably asked to by an audience member but perhaps it’s finally starting to pall as this time he did it in the style of Oliver Reed’s Bill Sykes and included a lot of X-rated references to cunnilingus etc.  It was entertaining though.

Next up was a live Q&A (over Zoom) with Chris Barrie.  Danny decided to stick around as he wanted to show Chris something he’d ordered online.  It took a while to get the cameras in the right position for Chris to be able to see it and Danny needed a knife to open the parcel, leading Chris to quip “Is this a good time for me to step out for some lunch?”

However, it turned out to be worth it as it was a custom-made Ace Rimmer doll which impressed Chris with its quality and he complimented the maker.

Danny and Ray then departed for their lunch and to take part in the Coffee Lounge which this year had reduced its numbers for Covid-related reasons and held a ballot for entry in the interests of fairness.  Amy and I didn’t get in but happily stayed for the rest of Chris’s Q&A.

In the “working from home” spirit, Chris was in a hoodie in his living room as opposed to his more usual smart suit.  He was suitably relaxed and revealed he got through lockdown by concentrating on the things which make him happy, such as his hobbies, his garden and his family.  His favourite episodes are “Marooned”, “Dimension Jump” and - less predictably - “Twentica”.  He also referred to a recent “mannerly, as he would call it” phone conversation with Craig.  No details but it had clearly been a positive experience.

Amy decided to liven up the ending of his Q&A by asking a vitally important, “TPL”-related question.  Whom would Rimmer find more attractive, a female version of Lister or a female version of Cat?

Once the laughter had died down and Chris had bought some time by pointing out that “neither of them are women”, he gave the question appropriate consideration.  He pondered whether Rimmer would be more taken by the “simple charms” of Lister or the “feline grace” of Cat.  This next bit is courtesy of Amy as my memory isn’t infallible: He said it’d be a choice between a feline form or a rounder, a bit more slovenly woman - he wouldn’t want the perfectly feline woman because she might not like his imperfections, but he also wouldn’t want someone who ate curry three times a day.  “Basically, a balance would be ideal.”

That was the last question but Chris provided a little more entertainment as he had a “How do you turn this off then?” moment a la Gordon the computer in “Better Than Life” and made amusing faces as he figured it out.  If it was anyone but Chris I’d think it was a deliberate reference to that but I think he was genuinely befuddled.

We then broke for lunch, followed by Autographs with Hattie, Danny, Ray and Norman Lovett.  I got the latter three to sign the “TPL” poster I’d brought with me but gave Hattie the booklet instead as it seemed more tactful.  She complimented the dress I was wearing and I returned the compliment, telling her how much the fans appreciate the effort she makes with her DJ outfits.

Norman commented how there’s a version of the “TPL” poster he isn’t on, bemusedly.  Fortunately mine was the version including him. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the bar with Amy, Lapsang and Barbs, chatting to other attendees.  Graphic Designer Matthew Clark was now in the Merchandise Room with various props from Series XII and “TPL” including the Starbug manual used onscreen.  I got his autograph on my poster but it’s an incomprehensible squiggle.  Oh well.  He was very friendly and easy to talk to.

After a break for dinner, the Main Hall reopened for the Costume Competition.  This seems to get better every DJ, with an amazing “Greyscale Rimmer” who was discomfiting to be around due to the corpse-like makeup, a Natalina Pushkin, a Nirvanah Crane who could almost have been Jane Horrocks herself and a Diving Suit Cat from “BTE”.  Other entries included Rimmer’s Mum, “Giraffes who were armed and dangerous” and a Confidence And Paranoia who were later pictured at the bar chatting to Paranoia himself, Lee Cornes.

We then had a special video message from Doug Naylor which I won’t go into as I’m sure everyone’s already heard the details.  Suffice to say, his tone was positive.

The second Auction was hosted by Ian Boldsworth who made it more entertaining by adding his own commentary to each item.  This was followed by a stand-up set from Norman.  It was amusing but he misjudged the mood a bit, I feel.  When you’re waiting for a disco to start and it’s already hours late due to Danny’s tardiness, you don’t particularly want to contemplate your own mortality.  We were here to get away from all that, as much as possible.

Anyway, the Disco was a lot of fun even if Dave Benson Phillips’ presence as host was sorely missed.  Hattie danced for the best part of an hour alongside everyone else.  The stand-in DJs did their job and I stayed until the end.  The final two songs were “Bohemian Rhapsody” and … “Tongue-tied”.

Sunday

Not being in the Sunday Photoshoot, Amy and I had a nice leisurely breakfast and got over last night’s festivities before the first Q&A, live over Zoom with Robert Llewellyn.

This was hosted by Ian Boldsworth who in his capacity as Dave era audience warm-up knows Robert well.  Clearly well enough to get away with teasing him relentlessly about not being at the con in person until poor Robert was a mess of Krytenesque guilt.  

His protestations that he’d been scheduled to be in Munich this weekend but no longer was (he was at home) only made things worse.  Ian: “Oh, so that’s two sets of people you’ve disappointed now!  Stop saying yes to things!”  It was hilarious and Robert took it in its intended spirit.  Also Ian was getting a measure of revenge for Robert - in character as Kryten - dry humping him at recordings.  One attendee asked “With the groinal attachment?!”

Robert admitted that he finds Kryten’s various groinal attachments hilarious and if he was writing the show they’d be in every episode.  He praised Doug’s restraint.

He also admitted that in “TPL” he had an earpiece to have his lines fed to him.  Since it’s controlled by an iPad, certain unscrupulous cast members took great delight in feeding him rude ones.

He still intends to update “The Man In The Rubber Mask” but atm “Fully Charged” is consuming a lot of his time as it’s become much more successful than he anticipated and he’s in charge of several people.

Surprisingly, he would hate appearing in RD without the Kryten makeup, both because it’s become much quicker to apply and because it provides him with a shield and he becomes Kryten and forgets stagefright.  He still can’t watch “DNA” for that reason.

Lapsang, who played Kryten in “Into The Gloop”, asked Robert if he’d seen it.  He hadn’t but said he was now very curious and would find a way to.

Next up was Lee Cornes aka Paranoia who said he originally auditioned for the lead roles and like the other unsuccessful actors got the consolation prize of a guest appearance.  Upon being asked if he’d gone out for a drink with Craig Ferguson’s Confidence, he said no because at the time they had a frosty relationship due to rumours that Craig was plagiarising other comics’ jokes.  Lee said it was all very silly and he’s since apologised.

Interestingly, Lee is a qualified science teacher and carried on with that career alongside his media one, leading to surreal situations where his pupils would ask: “Sir?  Were you on the telly last night?”  “Yes.”  “Are we on the telly now, sir?”

Someone asked a good question - what would Lister’s Paranoia be like now 33 years later?  Lee would be willing to reprise the role but isn’t sure it would work as the original had a childish quality whereas he feels now the character would be a lot darker and less funny.  Lee was both thoughtful and entertaining in his responses.

He was followed onstage by Hattie and Norman, who resolutely refused to rise to the bait of an audience member attempting to stir up a rivalry between them.  That only works when one isn’t the nicest person you could meet.

A tactless audience member asked both if they’d watched “TPL” instead of directing the question at Norman.  Luckily Hattie had seen it and particularly enjoyed the cat flap joke although she felt there was a little too much focus on the guest cast.

Norman didn’t really watch RD after he left but Hattie has seen Norman’s early episodes as he lent them to her back when she was originally cast as Hilly for research purposes.  Bear in mind this was 1988 when they weren’t even available on VHS so presumably he recorded them off the TV.  

Hattie confirmed with a sigh that she’s simply never been asked to return in any capacity: “That’s the short answer.”  What the hell, I’ll say it one more time - Bring Back Hattie!  One episode, that’s all I ask.  As it stands, it’s starting to look like a pointed and deliberate snub which mystifies me.

We then broke for lunch, followed by Rob Grant and Paul Jackson.  For obvious reasons they didn’t go into the current legal mess, opting instead to entertain the fans with the story of how they met and their early pre-RD work (Rob and Doug as freelance writers for Paul’s producer).

We saw some clips from their early shows including “Three Of A Kind” with Lenny Henry, Tracy Ullman and … later magician David Copperfield; apparently they all had the same agent and Paul took on David as a favour.  For a 40 year old show it held up pretty well and was in much better sound and picture quality than older shows often are. “Carrott’s Lib” was just as funny.

It’s a bit hard to summarise but this session was entertaining and gripping.  Rob still wants to write another RD novel and I believe there’s nothing actually stopping him as both he and Doug had an option to write a second solo novel.  So we’ll see.

The final Q&A was Matthew Clark who was very informative and interesting, showing us numerous production stills from Series XII and “TPL” and talking us through them.  There was a groan when time was called before he was finished.

By now time was running short and Amy and I went back to the room to pack and leave our luggage with reception before watching the start of “Dibbley Family Fortunes”. Since I knew I wouldn’t have time to watch it all, I instead nipped upstairs to Autographs with Lee and Ian, timing it perfectly as the queue had almost vanished.

Ian was still performing, drawing scornful attention to the fact that Lee had a longer queue: “Can you imagine all these people queueing to see Lee Cornes?!”  It sounds rude out of context but he was clearly joking.

I decided to ask Lee what flavour the yogurt Paranoia eats was.  He said it didn’t really taste of anything as it was the cheapest, nastiest canteen yogurt available and was also starting to curdle under the studio lights so eating it can’t have been much fun.

Since I now had about 15 minutes before I had to go, I caught a bit of Dibbley Family Fortunes, said goodbye to Amy, Lapsang and Barbs and then dashed off to catch the tram to the train station.  Another great DJ.

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia: Ivy on The Run and After the Rain Reviews

Hello all you happy people! We’re into week two and after far too long we finally get some answers.. well okay not the ones we thought we were getting but hey you take what you get sometimes. Point is it’s a big week, with a fun ivycentric episode that fleshes her and Felcia out and a far more serious episode that finally explains a few things, not saying what things because spoilers. So join me under the cut for some smiles, some tears, and a bit of Muay Thai and Myagi-Do as I break things down. 

Ivy on the Run:

I was pleased as punch to find out Ivy was getting an episode. While I couldn’t say she was a faviorite of mine, I always found Katie Crowns performance exceptional, and her a delight to watch. The character wasn’t bad.. but EVERY episode up to this one involving her was about her and Sprig’s relationship which while really fucking precious left little room to flesh her out beyond a love of ambushes and being into the same kid stuff Sprig was into. 

This episode not only corrects that but also takes another suprising leap for the series in having Ivy clearly be the main character of the episode. While this isn’t the first episode to spotlight a citzen of wartwood.. it’s the first where the Plantars are side characters in the plot instead of just as important as whoever got focus or usually more important. Here Ivy is the lead of the episode: We open on her waking up for the day (Or rather having been awake for hours to trick her alarm clock), get a sense of her personality.. and of the episodes conflict: Ivy’s desire to be free and explore versus her mothe’rs constnat anal renttientve insistence she do tea related stuff like fold swans properly. IT’s a decent enough conflict that gets elevated by hte twist at the end. 

So she runs out after that to meet up with Sprig, and ambush him because that’s how thier relationship works. And what I really like here is while their relationships still present in the episode it’s thankfully not the focus or even realy lreated. Their clearly together, it’s just not the focus of the episode> Just some nice ranch dressing atop this salad. While they go to hunt for glitter beetles, Anne is teaching Polly, Muay Thai. The martial art of champions.. specifically one eyed ones who like to put tiger in front of their moves. As for why she took it up her mom wanted somewhere to put her energy, as seen in a flashback with a young Anne adorably banging on pans while singing her own version of Wannabe by the Spice Girls. It’s fucking precious. 

So the couple happily go beetle hunting i’ts precious.. but Ivy’s patience with her mother starts to run out as her mother loudly interupts her hunt to return her for tea practice: stirring it, setting tables, folding swans that sorta thing. All things she clearly dosen’t WANT to do or like and gives the impression Felcia is trying to force her daughter to become more like her and less like herself which... no. Just no. 

Ivy eventually hits her limit with this bullshit, tells her mother off and then stomps off to her room whiel her Mom fails ot understand that MAYBE being hypercirtical of your daughter, even if it turns out you have a good reason, might backfire. Ivy is encouraged by her posters, great scene by the way, to run away and leave town, and take Sprig with her.. whose relcutant as he talked himself up as being really well liked and savy out there but was just okay in practice. 

Meanwhile Polly and Anne continue training but Polly can’t get it as she just can’t calm down and focus, and Anne easily blocks her. In constrast Wally shows up, having apparently been watching them. 

And picks it up instantly. I can see why; Wally seems a bit scatterbrained due to his weird and wonderful nature.. but we’ve seen him be entirely capable when the chips are down, and to be a talented musician. So while he’d SEEM like he’d lack focus, it’s probably way easier to him than the impatient tadpole who just wants to kick ass without getting it takes a few steps. 

Meanwhile Sprig tries to talk his girlfriend out of running away together at 10 only for Sylvia to tail them with those bee phone things she used earlier.. and also be there, as once they clear those out she’s waiting and both end up at the Muay Thai class. Things finally hit their breaking point and Ivy wishes she never had family... and I think this is what finally gets it in Felicia’s head she messed up. She meant well.. but sh’es clearly been so hard on her child that, even if she instnatnly regrets it, she’s willing to disown her own mother if it means getting away from her. 

So Felica gives her a way out: Martial Arts Match. Because nothing says parental love like fighting your daughter for her freedom. Though in her defense things are pretty fair: three matches, and Ivy just needs to win ONE by getting a point on her, like in a martial arts competition. I only know that’s what they were going for because I binged Cobra Kai last month along with the first two Karate Kids. 

And that refrence isn’t for nothing as Felcia easily dominates the first two matches using Miyagi-Do esque moves i.e. pure defense, and with a Miyagi style lesson inside as for the final one.. she has Ivy repeat the various tea things she’d had her do, and just like that amazing fucking scene from Karate Kid, Ivy can now fight and realizes her mother was training her the whole time, as her mom simply wanted her to be readly and as for why Felcia herself is a karate master, she picked it up while gathering tea as naturally it’s incredibly dangerous in amphibia.  

So Felcia let’s her daughte win and expalins she just wanted her to be safe.. which is nice but while her devistaiton earlier clearly shows it, it still dosen’t QUITE justify how hard she was or not telling her why when her daughter is a clear tomboy. I do get the Miyagi-Do training style: it builds muscle memory and means you can defend without thinking, fight without having to plan every punch and kick. It’s brilliant.. but you have to match the training to the student. Daniel hated his traning too.. but Miyagi clearly KNEW he would, knew he’d give out and set it all up that way. Felcia.. nearly pushed her daughter into running away and never apologized. It’s not all terrible as there is the implciation this whole match was Felcia realizing she had to make it clera what she was doing, but it’s still fairly torubling the episode never adresses her behavior outright., even if they make up and Felciia plans to take her along next time. Also Polly punches wally in the face... eh he’l lbe fine. 

Final Thoughts on Ivy on the Run: This one was decent. As said the final part feels a bit... ehhh..as it feels they don’t adress Felicia’s controlling attitude enough.. but it dosen’t detract from a pretty fun episode, especially the Muay Thai stuff. That was an unexpected treat. And let’s face it after recently getting in deep with the franchise thanks to cobra kai, I can’t hate anything that reminds me of  the Karate Kid. In a good way at least. 

After The Rain:

Well this was both a long time coming and as painful as I expected. And after over a year and a half, we FINALLY get some answers.. not ALL the answers but some. Look you know what this episode is about, I know what this episode is about, let’s get cracking in round 2. 

So Anne’s got a letter, anne’s got a letter I wonder who it’s from. Marcy.. it’s from Marcy. Turns out she’s ready to go to the first temple, and even sent them a check list: weapons, food (check and check) and armor. Hop Pop already thought of that.. but instead of badass and practical armor.. it’s padded sumo suits that they can’t move in because “less mobility means less trouble”. Or you’ll get eaten by a hawk.. which given this show is probably also on fire and can shoot acid out of its’ eyes. Or lasers. Or acid lasers. The point is their gonna die. THey also naturally need the music box... which Hop Pop about craps himself hearing. Gee it’s almost like not getting the box sooner when you knew damn well abotu the temple thing and that they’d need it kinda bit you on the froggy bottom Hopidiah. 

It gets worse for him as while he mentions his ‘contacts” again.. that night he goes to dig it up. Problem is, Anne follows him when she hears footsteps, and while she initially assumes i’ts just him being a weirdo and plans to suprise him... we instead get the gut punch we’ve been anticpating for the last year and a half.  Hop Pop shouts about the box being gone, clearly panicked... and Anne hears him, utterly devistated and rightfully FURIOUS. He confesses the truth, clearly feeling guilty for what he’s done and lying all this time but Anne dosen’t want to hear it and storms off. 

Yeah as you can tell this is a rough one. So next morning Hop Pop, who clearly hasn’t slept and given his surrogate grandaughter just rightfully walked out on him why would he, confesses to the kids what he did. And while neither like what he did .. they prioritize getting Anne back, sending him to go fix his mess while they find the box. 

The box turns out to not be the only thing missing: various other things around town have been stolen, including a talisman that if Maddie dosen’t get it back will have horrifying consequences. Classic Maddie. As for why Swampy Joe has the answer: the magpie beetle, a beetle that emerges once every 20 years to steal stuff to use as a shell to impress mates. They find the box.. but it’s in a seatle of beatles and soon get swamped.  Meanwhile Anne’s returned to the cave and... okay i’m just going to have to power through or this episodes going to kill me with sadness. After some bits about her and her rock rocky, Hop Pop finds her and she still has nothing to say to him, again for good reaosn, but before he can get to telling her WHY he did it, they hear the others crying for help and Anne tries to rescue them herself, only helping hop pop do so when he points out they NEED to and even if she rightfully dosen’t trust him she needs to for now. THey save the kids.. and Anne STILL wants to leave.

We then get an even bigger gut punch. It turns out Hop Pop didn’t hide the box for some big reveal.. regarding the box. Turns out it’s not the box itself, his book just says it’s dangerous and w’ell likely find out any specifics it had next week. It’s Hop Pop’s lingering trauma. While we don’t find out why the Box is dangerous.. we do find out what hapepned to their parents. And I just want to say before we get into that Bill Farmer’s acting this WHOLE episode is some of hte finest, if not THE finest in his career. HIs guilt, his pain.. it’s all so raw and palpable. Brenda Song’s no slouch either, Anne’s pain and anger is likewise very well done, but Bill is far and away the mvp of the episode.. and this scene is why. 

He reveals he’s been so cautious, so scared for the kids and so overly protective in general.. because of how the kids parents died, something they don’t blame him for but he does: He was out of town on buisness.. when a pair of herons attacked. Sprig and Polly got to the family bunker in time.. their parents... weren’t so lucky. It’s not the big bombastic arc related death we all thought was coming.. but I like it for it’s brutal nightmarish simplicity. They didn’t die some heroic death, they aren’t still here.. they just died like SO MANY background frogs have. Two wild giant animals they coudln’t possibly defend against got em. Nothing could’ve been done no matter what Hop Pop thinks, theirs no way they coudl’ve been saved, and i’ts LUCKY their children didn’t share the same fate. But their gone and it gives a new, awful meaning to Hop Pop’s overproectivness. Before it was mildly justified if a bit strict.. now.. i’ts him trying not to loose what he has left. Trying to hold on tight to his grandkids so he dosen’t loose anyone else.

He hid the box because his trauma and guilt were so severe he did something very stupid, and regretted it ever since and begs anne to forgive him in THE best line read of Bill Farmer’s long and storied career. And she does, hugging her Hop Pop gently, realizing that while he fucked up.. she gets WHY he did.. and that he’s sorry for it. He wasn’t tyring to keep her from going home or any messed up shit.. he just was trying to keep her and his other kids alive. And as Sprig and Polly say it’s not his fault, it never could’ve been.. he can’t help but feel that way. You just feel.. powerless when you loose someone, like you could’ve done something even though 9/10 you couldn’t have and it leaves a hole you never quite fill. So this hit like a truck. But our family is reconclied and the kids get a look at the entry in  Hop Pop’s ancestral book. What does it say besides it bad? what does this mean? We’ll find out next week. For now it’s just good to have them all together again. 

Final Thoughts on After the Rain: This episode is a masterpiece. It’s exepertly crafted, sticks in a few gags for flavor and only has the sprig and polly plot to help keep the main meat of the plot as light as it needs to be.. and it works. The few scenes we get with Anne and Hop Pop are just plain brutal and exactly what’s needed. It’s one of the series best, painful, raw and with a twist I dind’t see coming. I expected, again like most of us for the kdis parents deaths to be tied into it.. but instead.. it’s just trauma. But it’s satisfying enough that it feels like a great payoff, that it wasn’t some big dark secret like misdirected... it was just an old man who didn’t want to loose what family he had left. And that’s fucking brilliant. 

Next Week: THE FIRST TEMPLE BABY! The Plantars and Marcie head into the woods to fight moblins and ggghosts! I mean.. that is what the forest temple is right? 

Until then follow me for more reviews, follow me on my patreon your support would be appricated and see you at the next rainbow. 

[justdyingslowly]

1. Name justdyingslowly obviously come on

2. Nationality Australian

3. Age 22

4. Birthday nnnah dont feel like it

5. Zodiac sign (or your primal zodiac sign) Libra/Scorpio cusp

6. Gender wamon

7. Sexuality very very hetero

8. Your looks (add a picture or describe yourself) androgenous

9. What do you/did you study? Psychology (focus on sexology) and art.

10. What’s your current job like?/What job would you like to have? I am disabled you think I can work ha sexologist would be awesome. When I was a kid I wanted to be a fireman but Australias always burning

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11. Your birth order head first

12. How many siblings do you have? 1

13. Do you have good relations with your family? yeah dads finally out of his abusive relationship, nearing age 70 and his emotions and his sexuality are finally opening up for the first time and that makes me SO happy.

14. How many friends do you have? what kind of fucked up question is this.

15. Your relationship status relationshipped. Fiance? got the marriage papers in a drawer somewhere with the car rego but can’t be fucked filling them?

16. What do you look for in a SO? empathetic, mature, calm. Always open to discussion. Prefers to be blunt rather than secretive. Emotional age over 14 (incredibly fucking rare apparently). Puts an importance on context and understanding other views above all else.

17. Do you have a crush? Hellll yeah Crush on my partner and got a crush on a mutual friend of ours who don’t even know hes cute af hehe one day partners gonna accidentally spill the beans and embarrass me coz hes shit with secrets RIP me.

18. When did you have your first kiss? You think I can remember this bullshit? Its not that big a deal

19. Do you prefer serious and meaningful relationships or casual dating/one night stands? One night stand sex almost exclusively sucks. Just. SUCKS. Because neither of you know what the other likes and it ends up being an awkward mix of trying to please yourself while trying to also be considerate.

20. What are your deal breakers? Plugging your ears to anything that feels gross, uncomfortable or disagrees with you. How can you grow as a person without introspection? How can you mold what you think and believe without taking in other arguments and comparing them to your beliefs to see how they stack up? Its pathetic.

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21. How was your day? cute mutual friend had a fall this morning and were both worried about him. His back is bad and he’s getting a little older, he can’t be getting dizzy and having falls like that. other than that im anxious about seeing my gastro. He’s lovely but... specialists are specialists. Good at knowing what they know but not always great at listening.

22. Favourite food & drink you think im allowed to eat or drink? water and... foods a touchy subject.

23. What position do you sleep in? Usually on my side with a body pillow to grip so I don’t end up choking my partner in his sleep.

24. What was your last dream about? uuhhh...going to italy and being unable to get into this tiny basket boat properly.

25. Your fears does PTSD to medical shit count haha

26. Your dreams ... going to italy and being unable to get into a tiny basket boat thingy?

27. Your goals - get some sort of diagnosis eventually. Its been 3 years of trying and im tired. - get back to studying art part time for my bachelors. - pass JLPT N3. - go back to university for psychology. - do the dishes when I get home.

28. Any pets? two budgies. we also take care of any orphaned or injured birds.

29. What are your hobbies? feeling nauseous drawing writing a little bit im making a little gameboy game in C atm too

30. Any cool places in your area? i live next to a national park with waterfalls and koalas and emus and stuff

31. What was your last awkward situation? mutual friend made a comment on his chest i playfully smacked it (related to the comment) it was surprisingly hard “O-oh wow, thats... I didnt expect that” my partner laughed at me. it was awful.

32. What is your last regret? getting embarrassed at friends pecs stop making me think about it 33. Language/s you can speak english. N4 Japanese.

34. Do you believe in astrological stuff? (Zodiac, tarot, etc.) of course not what the fuck

35. Have any quirks? Quirkless. I do wiggle when im happy though apparently.

36. Your pet peeves open doors.

37. Ideal vacation spend a months chilling in an old japanese house in autumn hokkaido oooooof that sounds nice

38. Any scars? internal? yes

39. What does your last text message say? peepee poopoo ustinky

40. Last 5 things from your search history how do i find this

41. What’s your [device] background? Sam Porter Bridges walkin around Sam Porter Bridges cuddling BB-28 Louise while he sleeps my chicken

42. What do you daydream about? all might

43. Describe your dream home an old japanese house in autumn hokkaido oooooof that sounds nice

44. What’s your religion/Your thought about religion its a comforting thought having a parent-figure who cares about you and looks after all the big things you can’t manage yourself, but institutionalizing it runs a severe risk of becoming harmful cults. And it often does.

45. Your personality type me

46. The most dangerous thing you’ve done i saw the lost bunny that was on all the posters in the neighbourhood looked thin and patchy so i grabbed him to take him home. im allergic. sent me to hospital and I almost died.

47. Are you happy with your current life? feeling sick sucks and partners having a depressive episode but things are pretty good

48. Some things you’ve tried in your life living

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49. What does your wardrobe consist of? blacks, reds, whites and pinks

50. Favourite colour to wear? at the moment pink. Red is always comforting though.

51. How would you describe your style? mix between lazy alternative punk, teenager with band shirts and harajuku peach kawaii uwu

52. Are you happy with your current looks? kinda wish i was a bit shorter but what can you do

53. If you could change/add something to your appearance - impossible or not - what would it be? bit shorter

54. Any tattoos or piercings? lol no PTSD

55. Do you get complimented often? by who? partner constantly, family haha are you kidding im australian so a friend’s version of showing affection is calling you a cunt and slapping your ass in public

56. Favourite aesthetic? all might

57. A popular trend that you dislike blocking because you disagree or find them distasteful. Ignoring all context to opposing thoughts and arguments. taking a personal feeling of disgust to mean something is evil. Blocking your ears to anything that isn’t a circlejerk of what you already think - and trying to isolate anyone who even just listens to something other then the noise of your sloppy dicks to have a thought of their own.

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58. Songs you’re currently obsessed with? The Machine by Low Roar

59. Song you normally wouldn’t admit you like. why wouldnt i admit i like a song

60. Favourite genre? probably enka haha

61. Favourite artist/band/genre? probably enka haha oh and tatsuro yamashita

62. Hated popular songs/artists? why the hell would I hate something like a song? I hate aspects of the music industry as a whole I guess?

63. Put your music on shuffle and list first 5 which playlist they aren’t all together in one place

64. Can you sing or play any instruments? piano, saxophone... uh... partners good at making music and playing shakuhachi

65. Do you like karaoke? no.

66. Own any albums? yes? many?

67. Do you listen to radio? What stations? no. but triple J, ABC Jazz and Classical. sometimes they even play final fantasy and JRPG music on classical which is pretty neat. -

68. Favourite movie/series? can i make this about games because then the answer is Metal Gear Solid

69. Favourite genre of movies/books/etc ...shounen?

70. Your fictional crush/es if they’re over 40yrs old, male and happy and bubbily or grumpy and sad then there’s a big ol fat chance I wanna bone. Solid Snake from MGS4, All Might and pretty much anyone drawn by Tarou Madoromi.

71. Which fictional character is you? uh

72. Are you a shipper? List your otps, if so what does this even mean what language is this

73. Favourite greek god? idk hades seems chill

74. A legend from where you live that you like the story of Tjilbruke is funny and good. all Kaurna stories are good.

75. Do you like art? What’s your favourite work or artist? im in a big egon schiele mood atm.

76. Can you share your other social media? no i am incapable

77. Favourite youtubers? many

78. Favourite platform? not too high up. actually i like being a little lower than ground level in corners.

79. How much time do you spend on the internet? too much

80. What video games have you played? Which one’s your favourite? look i just want to say that MGS4 is the best one in the series and Death Stranding is phenomenally engaging.

81. Your favourite books (manga also counts) these are all so goddamn definitive how can I pick? Oh wait the answer is One Piece

82. Do you play board/card games? I play DnD atm and know 15 yr old rules to Yugioh

83. Have you ever been to a night marathon in cinema? that shit dosn’t happen here

84. Favourite holiday golden week coz its a week also easter because thats when all the glucose based sweets come back

85. Are you into dramas? what kind

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86. Would you use death note, if you had one? no. thats called being a murderer.

87. What changes would you make in the world, no matter how impossible, if you had the power to? chill people out a bit. when people feel unsafe they get really depenfive and territorial and block their ears to everything, making in-and-out groups for themsevles that end up putting them in more harm.

88. Could you survive a zombie apocalypse? im disabled with a disabled partner. we arent funny sure we can survive normal everyday life when society is angled so sharply against us.

89. If you had to be turned into a paranormal being, what would it be? id like to be a mimi spirit

90. What would you want to happen to you after your death? spooky time

91. If you had to change your name, what would be your pick? toshinori yagi

92. Who would you switch your life with for a week? anyone healthy

93. Pick an emoji to be your tattoo that cursed one with the intense eyes and the hand

94. Write 3 things about yourself - only one of them must be true im me im not me im pee

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95. Cold or hot? cold.

96. Be a hero or be a villain? both are distasteful ideas in reality

97. Sing everything you want to say or rhyme? i can’t do either partner speak sin bad puns and its hell, these both sound about equal

98. Shapeshifting or controlling time? shapeshifting. controlling time is eithe rmanipulative or lonely. shapeshifing is every other superpower at once.

99. Be immortal or be immune to everything aside from natural death? both are deeply upsetting ideas

100. ….. or …..? jiji or ossan? generally Jiji, but ossans can be lovely too.

[risottostitties]

Hi! First time here to ask haha! Any HCs for La squadra with an Otaku s/o? Like she watches anime and even buys merch in secret cuz she's scared they might find her hobby lame and immature? (Also,what will be their fave anime? And genre?)

Oh boy let me tell you I have some THOUGHTS about these boys and their taste in anime

La Squadra with an Otaku s/o

Risotto 

at first he’s gonna be kinda confused, not gonna lie. Growing up the only ‘anime’ he knew was like, Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z but at that point he was too old to really get into Pokemon, and he never considered DBZ anime because it aired next to cartoons and stuff.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t appreciate s/o and their good taste. He’s the kind of guy who wants to learn about what interests the people he loves, and he loves you. So he’d honestly enjoy late nights spent binge watching your favorites.

Comes to realize that DBZ was low key his gym goals for the early years of him working out. If you bought him a ‘Swole like Goku’ tank he’d probably wear it to lift in, ngl.

Knowing your favorites he’d probably look to merch for his go to birthday or Christmas gifts. Considering the hobbies and interests of some of his co-workers, a scantily clad waifu figure is honestly a welcome change of pace.

Depending on the style or aesthetic of the anime (ie, is it goth) he would be down to couples cosplay, although he wouldn’t be comfortable with you posting pictures of his face or any identifiable features of him online

His fave is probably the original Dragon Ball Run, followed very closely by DBZ for the nostalgia bit. Something deep like Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood and the original) would also appeal to him

Is also a big fan of Beserk, disappointed by the anime. And Vinland Saga, not disappointed by the anime.

Partial to Princess Mononoke as well. He likes some Ghibli films, isn’t afraid to admit it. Thinks the score for Spirited Away is bomb af.

Prosciutto

Prosciutto doesn’t really get it at first either. Honestly? He probably didn’t know the difference between cartoon and anime until you explained it to him.

Unlike Risotto he might be a bit more judgey if you try to get him to watch some with you. So you gotta hit him with the real classics. 

But similarly to Risotto, he at least makes an effort to try and indulge in the things you like. He might not be as patient, but he tries.

Probably wouldn’t do cosplay himself, but would hunt down exclusive seasonal merch to gift you. He’d take careful stock of your collections and do some research to pick out only the finest figurines and posters for you.

Would buy that hella expensive premium bandai apparel for you too, might even pick something subtle up for himself if he really liked the show it came from.

Also back on the cosplay note, if you agreed he’d find the highest quality cosplay possible and have you model some of his favorites for him.

(In particular if you were comfortable in fem clothing, Faye Valentine gets him going)

He loves Cowboy Beebop. 100%, wants to watch it again as soon as it ends. Everything from the characters to the story to the music and the fliud animation that has aged like fine wine appeals to him. Prosciutto is a man who likes the finer things in life. He oozes class. Cowboy Beebop oozes class and prestige.

Also likes Maasaki Yuasa. It was his idea to go see The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl in theaters.

In general his tastes tend to lean towards arthouse type anime or bona fide classics.

Pesci

Pesci knows anime and has been doing his absolute best to keep it a secret from the rest of the gang because they already tease him enough.

He’s one of those secret weebs, you gotta know where to look. Your best bet is to look at his accessories. Is there a watch with a certain symbol from an anime you recognize? A lanyard with a familiar print? Something subtle that isn’t immediately noticed by people not looking for it.

He has a secret box in his room full of blue rays from his faves. He watches them sometimes when he’s home alone. There’s nothing X rated in there obviously, he just doesn’t want people to know.

Thank god he has you.

The two of you probably bonded pretty fast over your mutual love of anime. Hell, you being such an open and proud Otaku probably gave him a bit of confidence in expressing his interests too.

Yall are the weeb couple. Yall definitely go to conventions together. Couples Cosplays, the whole thing.

He’s a sucker for Shonen just as much as he is for the really good heart wrenching painful ones. 

He watches Boruto because he loves Naruto so much.

He would also tear up at Clannad.

Dango Daikazoku triggers almost a pavlovian response of heart ache.

So does Secret Base.

Ano Hana is probably his favorite, although even you’d need to pry it out of him. Its one thing that Prosciutto gives him shit for liking anime, its a whole different ball game if he found out Pesci liked girly anime

Fromaggio

He knows what hentai is. That’s about as far as his knowledge went before yall got together.

He thinks its pretty interesting though, so he’d be down to watch some with you.

Turns out he really likes action shonen. He got really, really into One Piece. Like, instantly. He likes the fact there’s so much to watch/read before he’s caught up too.

Another boy that would couples cosplay and be really into it. Especially if it continued into the bedroom.

He’s pretty go with the flow, so he isn’t picky about what y’all watch. Even if it isn’t his cup of tea he’ll sit through a few episodes on a night with you.

Fromaggio can’t tell the difference between a high quality figure and a shitty one. Its a crap shoot what he buys for you. Its more a process of ‘oh, so likes this character’ rather than checking the seams and paint quality and how dynamic the pose is/interchangeable parts. 

Definitely buys way too much in the dealers room because of this.

He tries his best.

His fave is probably One Piece, liked bleach a lot but never read the manga, Yu Yu Hakusho is another one he really enjoyed. The Dark Tournament arc had him at the edge of his seat and hype as shit.

Illuso

Had a passing knowledge of anime before dating you. Knew what it was, saw a few of the mainstream ones, thought they were enjoyable, moved on with his life.

Your dedicated interest in anime would surprise him at first, because he always figured it was kind of a niche thing.

Would snoop around your collection of manga/figures/plushes in the mirror world while you sleep.

Winds up reading a lot of your manga like that (he’s good at reading in reverse because of his stand)

He finds he appreciates the art style of 80s-90s manga a lot more than he does the modern stuff. He really got into Ranma 1/2 and thinks Rumiko Takahashi’s artstyle is excellent.

If you asked him to watch Inuyasha with you he wouldn’t say no.

Probably wouldn’t want to do couples cosplay, but he definitely has an appreciation for you in cosplay.

You could talk him into going to a con if you caught him in the right mood. It’d be a hard sell though.

Has a surprising enjoyment for J-Rock. 

Inuyasha is high on his favorites list, as is Ranma 1/2. Also a fan of Ghibli movies although its pulling teeth to get him to admit it.

Melone

This man has watched so much hentai in his life.

He probably actually knows them by title honestly.

He enjoys anime too, and is not ashamed unlike Pesci. Everyone already knows he has unconventional tastes there is nothing to hide here.

Melone enjoys traditionally feminine anime, especially Sailor Moon. That one has a special place in his heart as he has memories of his sister watching it with him when he was much younger.

Its more of a decompress thing than anything else, so he doesn't tend to favor heavy anime with dense plot and more mature subject matter.

He likes Maid Costumes. On you, on him, it doesn’t matter.

Doesn’t know a whole lot about merch and what makes something higher quality but he learns fast. Between you and him the Dealers Room at cons won’t know what hit them.

Is the type to preorder a figure he knows you’d like. And maybe one for him.

Buy him this and he’s putty in your hands for a month straight (SFW don’t worry) https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Sailor-Moonlight-Memory-Locket/dp/B00UA9XB48

Sailor Moon is his favorite as I’ve said before, his favorite sailor scout is Rei. Is also a fan of Ano Hana, Violet Evergarden, and Toradora although he needs to be in the right mood to watch them.

Ghiaccio

He went down the Fate rabbit hole and we haven’t seen him since.

The gender bending grates as his soul but he is addicted regardless. There’s just so much dense lore that he can’t seem to stop going.

But also seeing how much care and attention is paid to the historical background of a lot of the servants is intriguing to him. Its the perfect blend of accurate and harem trash that infuriates him but also leaves him needing to know more.

He hasn’t played every game but he has Grand Order on his phone and has sunk an ungodly amount of money into the gacha trying to get his favorite (Its Jeanne Alter, in case anyone was wondering) and has seen all the anime (His favorite is the cooking spin off because its surprisingly calming to watch)

Fate Zero is probably his favorite ‘serious’ Fate adaptation. He enjoys the gravitas of the Holy Grail Wars (and hates how it was tossed out the fucking window in UBW/Stay Night/Heavens Feel) and the ritual aspect to the summoning and foreshadowing of future events as well as hints at a deeper magical lore in the universe hit all the right spots in his lizard brain.

The fact every fate anime has a different version of Saber (or a Saber Clone) pisses him off too.

He really loves Fate. And will scream about it for hours at you.

Getting him to watch or talk about anything else is like pulling teeth but he eventually relents because he loves you.

Its difficult to get through a single episode without him grumbling about something or another, but he tries once he sees its important to you. He does his best not to outright insult your favorite anime.

Can appreciate high quality merch as well, probably collects Jalter Figures himself.

If you’re comfortable in fem clothing, Cosplay Jalter for him and he will literally ascend then and there. Keeps pics on his phone. Would probably make it his background. He’s weak

Outside of Fate he finds he enjoys high fantasy shows. Historical fantasy pisses him off too much, and straight up historical drama would also have him grasping for inaccuracies.

Full Metal Alchemist is a non-fate series that he really loves because of the world building. The movie Maquia was one he enjoyed as well. Likes every Miyazaki film, don’t tell anyone. Cried (and raged) when Ushio died in Clannad.

In general he just likes really good world building. It has to be good otherwise he’s going to spend the whole time picking it apart.

[flowerspecial]

first off, your writing is very well detailed and probably one of the best i’ve read. secondly, can i request a drabble with jackson of #10 please?

Anon, you have just made my day, thank you so much 💕

“Don't pull away, not just yet” 

Your week had been an absolute disaster, it was as if someone had put a curse on you. All week you just experienced bad luck and to be quite frank, you were sick of it by the time the weekend had rolled around. First your car broke down, then you found out you had missed an important meeting, then you had spilt coffee on some important documents which had no other copies. All in all, your week was an absolute right off.

When Friday evening had finally come around, you headed straight out of your work’s doors without even so much as a second glance. You couldn't wait to just hibernate in the comfort of your own home, where no one could talk to you, and no more bad luck could occur. Entering your house, you were surprised to see Jackson sitting on your sofa eating some of your leftovers from the night before.

“Erm, hello Jackson, please let yourself in to my home without telling me.” You said sarcastically as you shrugged off your coat and shoes. You walked over to the sofa, and Jackson smiled widely at you and nudged one of the leftover containers in your direction.

“It’s not my fault you gave me a key. And besides, you haven’t seen me in two months, and this is the welcome I get? Remind me again why we are together.” Yours and Jackson’s relationship was still very classified, the amount of people who knew about you could be counted on your hands. It’s not like you two hadn’t been together for a while, god you’ve been dating for so long his friends keep asking him when you're going to get married. But you both decided that it would be best to keep the relationship private. Both for your sake and his. Sliding over to his side of the sofa you give him a warm welcoming kiss back home and snuggle into his side. Jackson always had that ability to make even the worst of days good, and you felt yourself relax by his side.

He looked down at your peaceful stature and smiled contentedly, but as we all know this boy has the energy of a puppy, so before you know it he’s jumping up from the sofa causing you to fall down onto the now empty side of the sofa.

“So I’ve been thinking,” he began, as he wandered around the room. “I think me and you need to have a little getaway together.”

“Jackson, I have work on Monday. I don't have anytime to go on holiday with you.” You hated saying no to Jackson, with the very little time you spent together already, you never wanted to refuse him of your company. Sadly though you had already used all your holiday so a week away with Jackson was an absolute no go. Jackson, though, was the King of compromise, and he would always be able to find a way around any snags in his plans.

“Okay then, let's just go somewhere for the weekend. Somewhere fun and lively.” You couldn't help but desperately want to reject his proposal. After the week you’ve had, all you want to do is hide under your covers until Monday rolls around. You’re mentally and physically drained so the idea of you running after a hyperenergetic Jackson all weekend was not the most ideal of things to do. But, as said, you aren’t as fortunate as other couples and you never really have time to spend with each other. So when an opportunity to be with each other comes along, you have to agree.

Jackson kissed you in happiness and squeezed your cheeks slightly. He quickly ran to your bedroom where he started to pack you a suitcase. Once he was almost done, he told you that he would go back to his dorm to get his things and to wait for him outside your home ready to leave. You and Jackson didn’t live together due to keeping the relationship a secret, so you did as he asked and carried on packing as he left your house.

When you and Jackson first started to get a bit more serious, you suggested that it might be worth investing in a car that is a little bit more budget friendly. You thought him driving a car which ‘everyday people’ drive would raise less attention, especially when he was picking up a girl. You waited outside the house, and precisely half an hour later he drove round, dressed in the blandest clothes he could find and a hat and mask. But let's be real, Jackson’s blandest clothes are better than your fanciest, so he still stuck out slightly, but not half as much as he would if he left his house in his fancy sports car.

Jackson had driven you to a small outdoor retreat style villa roughly around an hour out of the city. The cottage was cute and cozy, and inside there was a roaring fire and faux fur rugs. The wooden cottage was the epitome of snuggly, and you were excited. Maybe Jackson had sensed your need for relaxation and had changed his plans. You walked into the master bedroom to be greeted with a gorgeous four poster bed and the thickest duvet and blanket you had seen. But before you could clamber on, Jackson came crashing into the room and picked you up to carry you outside.

“Okay so, there’s this zip line adventure course that we need to go on right now.” Jackson announced. He didn’t put you down until you had reached the course. Honestly you found his puppy like energy endearing, and his happiness was truly contagious, so you could feel yourself being happy for the first time this week. But if you were physically drained before, this zip wire course had pretty much killed you off. Every time you do an activity with Jackson, you’ve learnt that if he makes it look easy, it almost certainly isn’t. This was no different.

By the time you had dragged your tired feet back to the cottage, you were so desperate for sleep you could feel you eyes beginning to close. You got into your nightwear and climbed into the enticing bed. Jackson was walking around, and you called him over.

“Jackson, honey, please come and lay with me.” Jackson loved cuddling, he jumped onto the bed in a heartbeat and lied down next to you. When it came to cuddling, you loved pulling Jackson onto your chest and wrapping your arms around him tightly. He was warm and comfortable and made you feel safe. Just as you began to nod off, Jackson began to stir and tried to get up from your grasp. You groaned at his efforts and tried to tighten your arms around him.

“Don’t pull away, not just yet.” You’d say no louder than a whisper. Noticing your very obvious fatigue, Jackson wriggled around slightly before getting comfortable. There was always tomorrow for another episode of energetic Jackson.

[artdjgblog]

Innerview: ​Sonya Baughman​ / Review Magazine​

July 2008

Image: DJG's "Live & Let Die" Record by Paul McCartney & Wings

Note: Interview for a magazine feature.​

01) Where did you grow up and where do you live now? My young cloth diapers treaded a lot of dirt, dead animal and doggy acres in the North Central stick regions of Missouri, Mid-West, USA. Currently, adult plastic diapers drag and sag me in mid-town Kansas City, MO. The first six years had me bucking bales, falling off hay wagons, piercing my cheek on a hay bale stinger, assisting with the old cow stuck in the mud, designing elaborate tunnels and forts from tomato cages, watching “The Muppets” and “Star Wars” a lot, hearing scary stories of Leopard Man, posing for many pictures with dead and live animals, rocking out in cowboy boots to “Live & Let Die” on my Papa Smurf guitar, and crying at night to my raccoon wallpaper…among many other early formative brain tattoos. Act Two had many dry summers and the bank repossessing the farm and moving us to the home and acres where my Dad grew up. The new place had a blacktop in front of it and a gravel lane with a bridge/creek. The blacktop was a reservoir for leaving behind summertime shoe and bike impressions and for popping tar bubbles in the blistering heat. I also was of age to really explore and build many forts and treehouses in the ditches, barns and woods. Also, I started to go hunting and spend time in the fields with my Dad. We never had a shortage of animals and pets too. A lot of spare time was also spent in the sandbox or in the bedroom designing and building things based on what I saw and experienced. There was also a massive in-take of drawing and pop-culture from comics, books, music, television and movies. There wasn’t much of a cap on what my siblings and I could devour. Oh, and loads of sugary sweets and cereals. Go thr​ough the yearly motions and I end up at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. There I got some very formal education and incredible interaction with students and design professors from the great making thing ways of Eastern Europe and Russia. I pretty much maxed out my art and design class card and was even making a ton of design work on the side for musicians. I then received a higher calling to drop out of school and make my guts out in Kansas City, MO which is where I’ve flopped around now for the past seven years. 02) Talk a little about your artistic background. Are you self-taught, did you go to college for art (if so, where)? My background is painted with loads of pop-culture from the 1980s and ’90s mixed in with the soil of farm life. I also designed and built many elaborate tree houses and forts up until the age of eighteen and spent most any spare minute in the sandbox or locked in my room drawing, reading, studying, video game playing, movie watching and just playing in general. I’ve never understood people’s ability to get bored or to not use the creation within them to ooze life out. I’ve enjoyed drawing comics, sports mascots and WWII battle scenes with my Dad at a young age that involved aircraft carriers, tanks and flags of those involved in conflict. My older brother would also draw a lot with me. He was better though. My younger sister and brother were pretty solid too. We have no idea where our creativity came from other than a great uncle, maybe? Also in my youth I would make giant collages out of magazine clippings and lots of mix tapes of Dr. Demento’s bizarre radio program and recorded and memorized many a variety of cartoon episodes and cool shows like Pee​-w​ee’s Playhouse. I’ve also been a constant collector all my life. Back in the day I was all about the whole spectrum of toys, comics, ball cards, cereal boxes and loads of other junk…even kept dead animal parts under my bed. In the fifth grade I won a county wide logo contest for a skating and bowling fun center and it was the first time I realized disappointment with design as my logo was butchered by those higher-up. In middle-school up until my junior year of high school I studied more comics, logos, sports architecture and wanted desperately to design new-vintage baseball stadiums until the realization of my poor math skills hit like a ton of collapsed buildings. I even won a Kansas City Royals baseball essay contest. Getting made fun of daily in high school stunk, but it really fueled my work ethic, dreams and caused me to lock up in my bedroom at night. Though, I still wish I would have worked harder in my youth. I still really enjoy working hard and being alone to this day. In the summer of 1996 I was selected to attend the first ever Missouri Fine Arts Academy and learned that I had more to offer with my insides and got a chance to interact with more likeminded minds. I came back to my senior year of high school with notebooks of typographic graffiti designs and a whole new language of what I thought was the art world. There was also a new art teacher at my school and he was serious and seriously cool and recognized that I had something to offer. I also came back to my senior year with more confidence in expressing myself and decided to dive into the world of graphic design for my post-high school studies. I had no idea what I was going to really do with it, but I knew I just wanted to use my gift of making stuff for the rest of my life. And graphic design somehow promised a bit more security in money than going the fine art route. Though, I’ve now managed to merge the two and to still not make any money. My high school scores had me at number 12 out of 24 in my class and I scraped the bottom of the test barrels to get me into college. Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO said I could come and so I did. They were the only institution I applied for and I had liked it from my three week stay at Fine Arts Academy the previous year. College was great, but I could tell quickly that I wasn’t a top art pup like I was in my small school way back down the line. I was with the bigger dogs now. I struggled with drawing classes because I realized that I wasn’t as good as I had been told I was for the previous eighteen years. That was a set-back and I still wish to this day I would have worked harder at drawing. But, mostly I have trouble drawing in a cramped room with a ton of people breathing down my neck and at certain times of the day. The introduction and foundation art classes were more my calling and I could take the stuff home and work alone and all night. Most of my friends complained because they couldn’t wait until sophomore year when we would be on the computer for design. I didn’t really understand what I was getting into with graphic design. In fact, one day I exclaimed to my friends that I was taking the graphic design route that didn’t use computers and was entirely hands-on. They thought I was pretty insane for saying that and pretty much called me a fool. It’s kind of funny now though. I was so naïve at 18 and 19 to what the formal graphic design world was and I think I still am ten years later. Back when I was more bushy-tailed, I just wanted to make things and cut stuff out and not chain up to a computer…and I guess I’m still bushy-tailed, though I have a computer and use it mostly as a tool. When I finally did get placed in front of a computer, it was a struggle and I just couldn’t get into it and past the screen barrier. It almost stopped me from majoring in graphic design. But, we weren’t on the computer all the time as we were taught to conceptualize and to think and to be hands-on too. But, we needed to know the computer too. I just couldn’t get along with the computer for the longest time. Of course, the computer whiz kids just couldn’t wait for the next semester that involved a wordy world called typography. Which, naively enough I thought was about the art of map making. I liked maps, so I was excited too. But, I soon found out it was a whole new world that would poison the ABCs in me forever…good and bad. At least in type class we were still taught to think and do things by hand before messing with computer fonts. That first year or two of official design school was just terrible for me as I felt I wasn’t really “getting” it and didn’t think I would be happy as a graphic designer. I was just fulfilling project requirements and with zero heart or much care. It wasn’t until I haphazardly signed up to duel major in illustration that things started to make music inside of me. I began to really pour myself out and realize that I could approach things in a similar light as to when I was a child and be happy. Illustration saved me and I found my voice with it and my classmates and instructors started noticing. The energy there was great and everybody fed off of each other and helped each other see in new light(s). I also began to understand the valuable importance of the experience of my schooling as the instructors not only had a unique style of teaching, but they also had interesting backgrounds and culture from Eastern Europe and Russia. I could mildly relate to them as I was a transplant from the foreign farm world of North Missouri. After many design trips to studios I began to feel a very empty feeling with the profession I had chosen to represent my working life. It was not what I wanted to do with a “career”, or my time. I didn’t wish to work in a factory of fried monitor goo-lash. I wanted to just make stuff and at my own pace and pleasure. I was also very protective of my work and wanted parental rights and not for it to belong to another man’s name or dream. My love for music started to fuse with design and I began to start making many things on the side for musicians, which spread to other types of word-of-mouth work for me. An eye-popping lecture by modern rock poster designer Art Chantry sealed my personal deal for wanting to do my own thing. Shortly after that I decided I needed to change many gears in my life and secretly drop out of school following my final design class in the fall of 2001 and live with a band (and some) in a big old dilapidated orange house behind the original Lamar’s Donuts in Kansas City, MO. While some senior students had trouble looking for one real world client to work with for their final projects, I had close to 10 off the top of my head and whole bunch of future blank pages to fill. 03) During the time you have been making art have you always been drawn to this type of graphic expression? Did you “find” a style or did a style find you? I’d say a bit of both. I’ve never really gone for a set “style”. I’m sure that I’ve got one that has become recognizable to my thumb prints. Honestly, I never really think too hard about what I’m making or the why or how of the making until I have to answer questions like this. Then I start to over-think things. Also, whenever I’m told that I’m a good collagist or good at hand type or so-and-so rendering, then that is the only time I really make an effort to switch gears. I have boiled the majority of my output to be relational to the immediacy of my moods, thoughts, tickles, inclination and whatevers. Though, sometimes life can get in the way and I’ll have to slide down a small sliver of time and energy depletion, like I am with trying to get this writing out on time! But, I’m a big fan of cranking stuff out no matter what. Life is pretty darn short to sit on my hands. It seems that style can be a bit of a drag for some people and/or a hole. I’ve always been more in-tune to the folks who just follow what their gut, heart, hands and eyes speak instead of creating a set template. Some people never stray too far from that and only a few can truly get away with it. Edward Gorey is perhaps one of the few who could really make it work for me. I would certainly love to draw and think as well as he did, but I might be quite miserable doing the same thing over and over even if I was able to do it for a living. I think that a lot of people get confused and think they need to have a style and either invent one or pick other people’s noses instead of sniffing what they’ve been wearing all their life. Style to me is a lot like decorating or something. Though, at the same time that decoration might marriage perfectly to what somebody thinks they need. I don’t know though. Sometimes I think it’s funny when we as people think we need something to look or feel a certain way that’s already been communicated or visualized. I think that sometimes we are too caught up in what’s done before instead of thinking for ourselves. I’m guilty too. What’s really confusing to me, on a personal level, is when I get a request like, “We like all your work so make whatever you want!” and then the client ends up being really disappointed because it wasn’t in their “style” and then it’s awkward. Style is just an odd thing to me. But, most things are. I try to just trust my gutty heart and just make. 04) Do you see your work as communicating your identity or as helping to communicate the identity and message of others? … or both? I see it as me communicating what I’ve gathered from being on the Earth for 29 ½ years and spreading that manure the best I can. It’s a heaping helping to tell the story of others by telling my story. Most of my work fits into fine art and design, at least I’m always told that. I’m not really sure. Of late I’ve been pushing into more of the fine art bin. But, I’m not a big fan of labeling things and I would like to do many things with this thing I do. With design, one does have a role to play with helping somebody else tell their story, and at times, sell their story. There is also a responsibility to the venue the product is in or where it will eventually end up, whether a fine package on a shelf or a poster in the gutter. I feel it can be easy for a designer to lose perspective of the role playing. With leaving behind an identity…well, I like the idea of a paper trail, time-line and bruising thumb prints on this life. However, I don’t necessarily have the intent to say “Hey, look at me.” I am just another human, and one who happens to make things. If the work speaks or inspires (probably frightens and confuses on occasion), then that means a lot to me, especially in these fast-paced and flashy “everyone’s a designer-decorator” times with millions of images and advertisements everywhere. I think it’s great to recognize and at times celebrate gifts and achievement. But, I feel there needs to be a healthy balance. It can be a dangerous thing to play with at times. Some artists I feel become the work of art themselves and end up playing God with the gift and this saddens me as it usually ruins them in the long run. 05) Is there anything about your geographic location that has given you a unique perspective on design and the art you create? Certainly, growing up country might have my visions at a stranger advantage, and a howling merge to that with the city life now. You might see a lot of wonderfully strange things on the streets of the city due to the amount of activity by varieties of people and culture. But, only in small town Missouri do the deer pile up outside the meat locker and blood runs next door to the Baptist church as the high school band splash-marches through it. Growing up it was easy to take my lifestyle for granted. I enjoyed it immensely, but when I was 15 to 18 I wanted to get out a bit more. I was hungry to explore, and not just the many acres we lived on. I wanted the rest of the world. I became a little disgruntled with growing up country and I think that there is a certain stereotype placed upon people anywhere they are, but country folk get it pretty bad. I definitely ate from both sides of the fence, but also didn’t want to be hung up in it for a living. As I grow older I appreciate my roots a lot more and celebrate them and am very thankful. I enjoy going back home. And some day I’d like to move outside of the city to a small plot of land with a making things shack out back. But, my family home isn’t too far down the road for a getaway weekend visit to sit with the stars, coyote yips and fish. 06) What do you consider influences on your art? (this can be other artists, music, philosophy, nature – anything. this question is not just limited to “I’m a big fan of Banksy”) First thing, I believe in the compiling of all days in life to influence an artist’s output (horse apples or clean streets). Our walks tell a lot about who we are in the present prints. I feel that one would be lying to me if what they created was not in their full vision. But, I too think that we all wear and share influences as witnesses to what we’ve seen and where we’ve been. We all help shape each other. I’ve rattled off my early influences of popular culture. I think I’m more in-tune with my child’s self now than I was then as I sit alone and make things and pull from all my days. It’s also easy to feel that I was really moving and discovering more back then with naïve, childlike faith that I’m trying to get back now. I have some good days though and mostly when I’m not thinking too much. I’m still a fan of absorbing lots of things and from many angles. Of course I have my artistic influences. One of my big influences as a child was my Grandma Gibson. She is from the old school of the country and a very hands-on person with making many things like clothing, dead animal backpacks, blankets, pillows, fridge magnets and game board pieces. I still have a lot of the things from those years. I think a lot of my approach to making things came from her. My “professional” art world as a kid had an outside knowledge from trips to museums and PBS specials, though I felt a little detached from that world and still kind of do. My heroes were at the movies because they were more immediate to me, guys like Jim Henson, Stan Winston, Dr. Indiana Jones, Rambo and Han Solo. But, it was Henson’s world that opened me up to the first idea of an artist’s legacy, vision and spirit and glimpse of another world. Something big-time ached in my decade old gut the day I found out he passed away. Musically speaking I was very much a child of my Mom’s Beatles records, “oldies” music and a ton of television theme songs, novelty sing-alongs and old church songs. I still put a lot through my ears now and my biggest influences in music in my older years are Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and Bob Dylan. Also, I am still a big fan of tons of picture books and just anything really. I just know that I’ve never had bare space on the walls and shelves of my home and head. Oh, and wherever I am I’m usually distracted by the stuff on the ground. I’m a big collector of found notes, writings, scribbles, addresses, children’s drawings and good-bad-silly-stupid-smart designs. I like to collect ‘em all. I’ve also collected stamps since I was 10. I’m a big nerd. Here’s a listing of some names in the art and design canon who have made things that either attracted, influenced or moved me in some ways (in no particular order): Saul Steinberg, Seymour Chwast and Push Pin, Lester Beall, Edward Gorey, Ray Johnson, Art Chantry, Henryk Tomaszewski, Vaughn Olver and V23, Raymond Pettibon, Paul Klee, Stanley Donwood, Stefan Sagmeister, Cy Twombly, Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff, Ralph Steadman, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Michel-Basquiat…most anybody who has something to say and develops a bad back carving out their paper trail. Movies are also a giant influence on my work and I study them almost daily. Some of the filmmakers who capture a certain craft of unique spirit that I enjoy include P.T. Anderson, Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry and the Coen Brothers. Folk Art is another big mind-blow and one of my favorite areas to study and get ticked by the of-the-moment heart, purity and passion. I love the idea of somebody just up and making something for the heck of it and not for art’s or ego’s sake. That’s the childlike thing I miss the most. The makers and shakers that move me the most from the folk art movement are Henry Darger, Bill Traylor and Robert E. Smith. And sometimes I get more out of the work on display in county and state fairs by everyday arts and crafters than so-called “professional” art and design work. 07) What is your perspective on the place of poster art here in the Midwest (or KC specifically) as it interacts with the rest of the art community and how the poster art coming out of this community may be perceived on a more national level? I’m curious about this because of the recognition Kansas City artists in general have been receiving lately on a national and international scale and how the art world tends to waffle between interest and disinterest in artists in this region. The music scene here is very interesting to me and a lot of times I think that it is just like 20 people all making it happen. Though, there is a lot of talent, diversity and genre-bending for a small town like this. There are a lot of groups making a mark here and down the highways, same with the people making stuff for them. Though, I get a little strange sometimes because I sometimes feel that the small scene mixed with the internet’s social networks and fewer record stores (oh, and most of my posters take up a whole bulletin board!) makes the poster almost secondary information and so-so decoration. In the same thought though, most of the stuff I see on the internet passes by me in a two-second window like that of highway advertising. Though, some do stick out to me because I’m always on the look to get tickled. And I don’t feel the art of the printed piece will die any time soon. Anyway, the scene just works here in Kansas City somehow and everybody takes care of and appreciates each other’s roles and contributions. I’ve had some great response to what I’m slapping up, but at the same time I think that a lot of people don’t get it. What’s not to get, it’s not too special? But, that’s fine with me. I’m not sure where I am in the scene. Maybe more-so in the “seen” department with my meager budgeted work hanging above a stool in the blurry-eyed late hours. I still think that toilets are one the best places for information gathering. Poster art in general in the last ten years alone has received a great breath of fresh air. Many of the makers are respected within a small collective, and have also been breaking through to represent on a national level of design aesthetic, as well as a well-rounded view of the printed timeline to life and culture. It’s also something that anybody can do and a lot of bands still just make their own stuff, which I’m cool and whatever with it. Everybody has their own style, agenda and empty pockets. But, the personal computer has saturated the landscape with a lot of “samey”. Then again, if it works, it works. In the end if it gets people interested and enthused, then what is there for a bum like me to complain about? And sometimes I really get a kick out of unskilled design stuff(s). I try to stay out of design politics for the most part. There is more to life than design dogma. Though, there is design all around us as we interact with it in every way from the tip-top of a tree to a paper scrap for this article. I enjoy the simple act of creation and inspiration that comes from something that seems like nothing, yet has always been a “something” growing and building and will continue to grow if the viewer lets it do so. You just have to add the proper mix of ingredients, I guess. And I guess my brain isn’t one to formerly function on the full realization to what it’s thinking. So, I’m babbling right now. I do know that something I’ve always enjoyed about the concert poster is the relatively short life span it has and how that can be used to the advantage. I just want to encourage people out there, designers/artists, non designers/artists or even church secretaries, to really push things and work harder. I don’t really care if everyone isn’t versed in design and art. In general I just encourage more to experiment with poster art, find your voice(s) and find new ways to spread the good word. Even if it’s not for a concert or an event, just make something and get it out there. Throw your junk off the overpasses if need be. 08) How has your work been received within the arts community here (and also in other geographic regions if you have been branching out)? For seven years now I’ve somehow managed to remain fairly anonymous and at the same time have sparkled a bit of attention…maybe just a glittering. Life and day job dwindle my hours to where it’s hard to even pay attention on my own stuff sometimes, so I don’t get out much here in the city. Though, I guess it is easier to keep up with things on the internet, papers and here-say. I think Kansas City is making her own dent right now with a wide variety of things going on in the arts landscape. The town is kind of booming and bustling right now. Being that we’re a small town, it’s easy for a small fish to get more wet feet. Though, I’ve never put my whole foot into anything. I just do my thing. Some days I’m not really sure what that thing is, but I do it despite my muck. When I first started on my design quest, like when anyone tackles something head-on, I was head-over-heels and not sleeping much. I was also living with bands and interacting more and actually going to shows several times a week. I don’t know how I did it without exhausting my ticker, but for some reason it all worked. I started to garner a little bit of buzz here that seemed to spread quick outside the state and international borders. Many people contact me from all over and slap my stuff alongside some of my design favorites in magazines and books. It’s a hoot. People are always interested in my story and creations. It’s all still really odd and blushing to me in some light that the little things I make are reaching a selective audience on a much grander scale. Anyway, I’ve certainly learned now that sleep is important and that it’s better for me to work smarter, not harder. Though, that’s not entirely the truth as I still work pretty darn hard and I believe in it greatly. Still, I’ve struggled with my own brand of discontent since I fell from a slide and blacked-out at the age of five. It’s something that I’m working and wrangling with. But, with any kind of actual work you’ve studied, worked hard with and duct taped up the switch with 24-7, you learn to just not think and rather DO and the moves become mechanical. I just have to put to use different types of oil to keep from rusting. It all becomes a fluid thing, or something constantly coming down on me in the grocery aisle, tree leave holes and side walk crack scribbles. It can be challenging when life stuff gets in the way, but I shouldn’t see it as getting in the way. I easily get confused, but then I realize that the things I experience and see and do (good-bad) all go into my design pot mixed with my past and then I just have to do the upchucking as I move forward and I tend to feel better. Recently I’ve definitely stepped back on my massive production of concert posters and I’m sure that many people reading this will think, “Geesh, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen this idiot’s work?” Not only has my life changed in some ways, but I also had to give myself permission to take a time out and to learn to say no to some things. A break was needed before burnout and bitter rotted my worms in the apple, among other things. I had a year of little activity and practiced sitting on my nest. I still made a bunch of stuff, but a lot just for me. I’ve also been involved in various group art shows around the country, design books and special art projects with friends spread about. Another thing I did, and still do, is just to see what other avenues I’d like to take my one man show. I’m learning to use the internet for the medium that it is too. Anyway, I’ve always got some stew samples back burning, but my biggest competition is myself…on top of time, energy and money. Mostly myself, as I’ve always been extremely hard on myself. Though, I’ve been told I make it look easy. I’ve never been good at math, so you go figure. I get exhausted from trying to figure this out. 09) Is artwork your main profession and, if not, are you intending to make it so? It’s really flattering and kind of sad when every spring I get more and more inquiries from freshly plucked and talented college students about a possible internship or job with DJG Design. In general, due to what most think to be a large and varied output of work, people who don’t know what I’m about think that there is a D, a J and a G making things. It always excites me to be contacted by enthused students and other design people (any walks of life, really) who saw something or connected to my work and got a spark. It makes me rosey, but it also keeps me a little down as I don’t make enough money to do this full-time. But, it all keeps me at my little basement bay working on my bad back and poor eye sight, keeps me (under)grounded in some ways. I’ve always worked full-time jobs and have been married now for three years. So, certain responsibilities come with walking hand-in-hand with another. For now I just spin the day job blues and try to stay content and disciplined, burning the fuel before and after work. But, age is setting in a bit and I’m getting antsy. I also grow tired easier. Good things do come out of day jobs, good design work does too. For the first four or five years I was a janitor and groundskeeper. So, loads of perks came from great finds, discards, dumpster dives and lots of free food and more time to read and study and draw. Heck, I even designed a few posters between clock punches. Currently my position has me staring at a computer doing data entry. The health care, artificial air and hours are great and I can walk out my back door and be there in seven minutes. But, it can be difficult to know that I’m sitting and squandering something back home. I do take it with me everywhere upstairs, and I do a bit of networking during the day time, but there is still that itch to make things full-time and not have a full plate of non-stop. It’s all hard to balance. But, making things is the only thing that I’m told that I’m somewhat good at. Well, other than eating junk food, watching movies, being confused and petting my four kitty cats. I am fast approaching thirty and the visual of time stacking is more evident than ever. Each space between second hand clicks is another scratch of tiny pine box to me. I am slowly checking off my list of “Before 30 Goals”, but I’m usually several cars back and sometimes it’s a pileup. Life takes a different course too. But, I have caught back a hold of a torch of some sort. I am constantly tacking up side boards to the wagon. After eight years of looking at Gigposters.com, I finally have ALL of my poster work up on there. It’s a great way to generate exposure and get my work out some more. I also have my new website up and an extensive volume of imagery on my Flickr.com account. It can be a bit odd to put one’s self out there in such a reservoir fashion, but I do like the idea of the timeline and personal file cabinet. And if my house burns down, it’s all digitized and makes it easier on my friends when they have to move me. So, day jobs…they are both blah and bling in my mind. My sling shots just point back at me on certain days. Sometimes they change direction with every sentence. At least I’m now under a thousand dollars on my student loans. I don’t make a thousand dollars in most years on design. 10) Tell me a story – have you had any strange poster requests? A project where you just about lost it? A poster that succeeded beyond expectations or failed in a way that took you totally by surprise? A project-situation-chaos that always sticks out when I’m asked a question like this happened to me back in June of 2002. It’s not a poster, but it’s pretty whacky and ended up being one of the best things that I think I’ll ever make. It was a special run of 250 homemade CD packages for the band Elevator Division. I’ve had many projects that demand more production time than my little brain imagines, but this one was the worst. Actually, the finished piece is a lot tamer than my initial idea. Though, the final image’s concept married to what the band was communicating on the disc inside is way better. The following true story I’ve released for a previous interview, I just tweaked a few glitches… The idea came at the night I started printing. Well, actually it was spray paint. I had an image made for a month or more and then changed it at the last stroke of inspiration. It married the themes for the album “Whatever Makes You Happy” perfectly. With reflections of war and relationships in the songs, I made an image of a hand shooting off its index finger like a missile. It was the idea of shooting off one’s options and making decisions. It was aggressive, inviting, serious and humorous all in one. It was not only fitting for the band/music but also to the national/world agenda and climate. I went to war that night with many cans of spray paint and the idiot mind to do two-hundred and fifty all in one massive sweep, and in my basement, which is something I will never do again because I could have died. I will probably also never be involved with another package like this again (take that back, I have been). Anyway, each one was hand-cut from cardboard and handmade stencil sprayed and rubber stamped. Inserts were cut, folded and glued. At the last mist of red spray a crack of thunder shook the massive turn-of-the-century home and I bolted from the basement and out the front door to a down poor fit for Noah himself. I was like a much less cool version of Dr. Frankenstein though. I leapt off the front porch and slid head first down the embankment and into the street turned river current. But, like a taxidermy nightmare, I was born again. The drug dealing squatters across the street were on their front step perch per usual summer evening, looking at the fire in my eyes and the red paint streaming from ears, nose and mouth. It was a high much higher than that of chemical substance. Well, maybe a three pack of design, life and paint fumes. 11) What is it about the poster as an art form that you feel is unique among other art forms? What purpose does it serve in your mind that can’t be served by another type of visual art? I’ve hinted at this in a previous question. I like the idea of the poster’s life-span being short, relative to the date and time…event, whatever. But, if it connects in the right way, and it can be different for everyone as art-design-whatever, is all relative to the viewer, I think that even a concert poster’s impact can last a long time. Since my first year in Kansas City I’ve had people find me out and say that they had a bedroom wall filled up ​with​ my work. It really moved me that something so simple (and sometimes stupid) that I squeezed out caused somebody else to be moved enough to hang it above their dreams at night. It means a lot to me when others get something out of something I’ve made. I know from child to adult, I myself have gotten something out of the stuff I’ve collected and tacked to my walls. It’s odd, yet a really nice feeling to know I’m somehow contributing to a landscape in some way. Making things is an act that I’ve always needed to do and has helped me get the best out of many days. I’ve always had difficulty with contributing in many forms of communication and on some days it’s terribl​y​ hard even just to be out and about. Making things has served as my calling with communication. It’s nice to know it can help others too in whatever way. -djg

[faneliacosplay]

Top 10 of 2018

C2018 was a year is this nicest way I can sum it up. My precious fur-baby passed away after fighting a horrible illness and is in a happier place, my health went crazy (still is as of writing), and I finally broke free from an abusive toxic person who had been controlling me for a huge chunk of my life. Despite the bad things that happened, I want to focus on the good things of 2018. One of things I began doing in January of 2018 was at the end of every week, I would write down all of the good things that happened to me, be it sewing, watched a good movie, spending time with a friend, etc. So without further ado, here’s my Top 10 of 2018! (I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ALREADY MARCH!!)

1. The Ancient Magus’ Bride

-      I’ve been a lifelong fan of Beauty and the Beast-like stories ever since I watched the classic Disney film. The manga kept popping up in my recommendations for the majority of 2017 and I remember seeing a poster at my local theater for a premiere showing of the first 3 episodes of the then-upcoming anime (I have since regretted not going to this showing). I finally caved and bought the first two volumes of the manga and literally went back to the store two days later and bought the next 2 volumes. I’ve always been a very picky person with my romance be it movie, novel, anime, manga, etc., but this quickly became one of my favorites with it’s excellent world-building, relationships, and don’t even get me started on how gorgeous the animation is! If you want an excellent Beauty & the Beast adaptation, you won’t be disappointed. (I am unashamed of crying happy tears in public while watching the final episode)

2. Satoshi Kon’s Filmography

-      My New Year’s resolution was to watch all of the late Satoshi Kon’s works, starting with his debut film Perfect Blue. I had wanted to watch this film for several years, and it did not disappoint. (I kept spamming for people to go and see it when it got a theatrical re-release in Fall 2018) Next was Kon’s final project Paprika, which I watched about 3 times in May and many times over 2018 and still notice something new every time I watch it. Finally, I watched *the* film that I have wanted to watch for many, many years (since 2004 to be exact): Millennium Actress. I was not prepared for how moving this film would be with its themes of the past vs. present, how an ordinary encounter can lead to something so much more, and lastly: love transcends time. If you could only watch one of Satoshi Kon’s works, please choose to watch Millennium Actress. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch Kon’s other two works, but I aim to in 2019 (along with reading his works)

3. Slayers

-      I watched some of Slayers back in middle school and in summer 2016, but never took off with it until in 2018. I knew I would like this funny series about the adventures of a fiery sorceress, dumb as a stump swordsman, optimistic hero-in-training, and an overly-serious chimera, but I had no idea it would become one of my top 10 favorite anime series! I haven’t laughed so much with an anime in a while, and I greatly appreciated it since my fur-baby passed away and this was one of the last anime we watched together. There’s just something about 90s fantasy anime that’s just so appealing. I will throw in that while I love the tv series, the films are worth watching too, with The Motion Picture being my favorite. If you need something to cheer you up, I highly recommend Slayers!

4. Venom

-      Confession: I did not have high hopes for this movie. I was the only one among my friends who was uninterested in this film whenever we would watch the trailers/promos/etc. Eventually after this movie came out, my friends and best friend convinced me to see it. My sociology buddy told me “This movie wasn’t marketed right! Go see it!!” and another told me “This is the best action rom-com of 2018.” The next day my family asked me if I wanted to see it and Bohemian Rhapsody (also an excellent film) and I said “Sure!” This film has since spawned never-ending jokes between me and my best friend. (I ended up making her a Venom scarf for Christmas!) If you’re trying to get someone to see this film, don’t show them the trailers depicting it as a dark, gritty, action thriller, show them the home video trailer depicting it as a rom-com because that’s exactly what it is. I still can’t believe that a movie about a human falling in love with a man-eating gooey alien is real.

5. The Shape of Water

-      “2017 will be remembered as the year men screwed up so badly, women started dating fish.”- Jimmy Kimmel, 2018 Oscars. I’m beginning to see a pattern for stories of humans falling in love with monsters. My mom and I wanted to see this film after the trailer dropped in summer 2017 and were disappointed when the film didn’t play here. However, sometime in February 2018, this film played in our town for one weekend, so we dashed to the theater. I don’t even know where to start with how beautiful this film is and since several people I know still haven’t watched it I’ll just state this: Please watch this film. It earned the 4 Oscars it won. (It earned all 10 it was nominated for!)

6. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse

-      I almost didn’t see this film. 2018 was a pretty hectic year for me and I didn’t really keep up with films/entertainment news, so I saw no trailers for this film (except for a really short tv ad). All I knew was what my best friend had said: “Brianna, let’s go see Spider-verse. In 3D.” (y’all, 2018 was the year of listening to my best friend) It was so nice not only to see a different Spider-Man, a diverse cast, a well-curated soundtrack, and a completely new style of animation that makes you feel as though you’re reading/watching a comic book??? Sign me up! I’m so happy this film won the Oscar!!

7. Macross Frontier Movies

-      I’ve fallen deep into the Macross hole in the past year or two and have no plans of crawling out. The 2008 series Macross Frontier was my first and favorite entry in the series so far. I knew that there were two recap/alternate retelling films made, so when I was free one day I watched them and I was really surprised that I enjoyed them more than the tv series!? I haven’t really mentioned this, but my big problem with the tv series of Frontier was it’s ending being not too good. I don’t want to ruin it since Macross (particularly made after 2001) is a bit unknown in the USA, but I will say that if you want to get into this franchise, start with the Frontier movies or with the iconic Macross: Do you remember love? film. The music is just as good as the tv series, same with the costumes, and the writing is much better! The performance of Northern Cross at the climax of The Wings of Goodbye was really moving. Not “Do you remember love?” moving, but pretty close.

8. Sailor Moon Theatrical Double-Feature

-      Everyone who knows me knows that I’ve loved Sailor Moon for pretty much all of my life (ever since the 3rd & 4th seasons aired on Toonami back in the day!) A holiday tradition for me was to watch the 2nd theatrical every Christmas Eve, unfortunately my two VHS tapes finally gave out in 2016. Thanks to Viz Media, this past summer saw theatrical re-releases of all 3 Sailor Moon films. Shockingly, my local theater was showing the films subbed so my mom and I bought our tickets right away. It was so surreal seeing these films that I grew up with on the big screen, and I know non-Sailor Moon fans won’t get this, but hearing/watching the whole “Moon Revenge” sequence in the theater was so intense. This part never got to me as a kid for some weird reason and I had no idea I was crying until my mom pointed it out at the end of the film. With the 2nd film, seeing Luna transform into a human was emotionally moving as always, just 10 times more since it was on the big screen with that nice surround sound system. That night when I got home, I didn’t get any sleep since I still couldn’t believe that this happened. The now 20+ years old Sailor Moon movies got released for the first time in USA theaters. This is an experience I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.

9. Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc

-      I was so excited when a sequel to Cardcaptor Sakura was announced. Like Sailor Moon, I watched this series as the heavily-edited Cardcaptors on Toonami. When I got older and learned that there was more anime out there besides the ones I saw on TV, I went back and watched Cardcaptor Sakura to get the whole, magical story and even read the manga, which I believe is the greatest children’s manga ever made. I loved every single moment of the new series and felt as though I were watching another episode of the classic series. The only thing that felt different was that the animation is no longer hand-drawn. (it’s still good) When you reboot or make a sequel to a series be it tv, film, or book, sometimes it’ll miss the charm that made it so enjoyable in the first place. Clear Card thankfully still carries the charm its predecessor had.

10. Little Witch Academia

-      I had started this anime around holiday 2017 but didn’t finish it until early 2018. This was one of the most optimistic series I’d ever had the pleasure of watching. I don’t want to compare the two, but the inspirational message that Kiki’s Delivery Service gave me when I was 10, was the exact inspirational message you will find in Little Witch Academia. (and that I needed to hear as a 20-year-old) I was starting to get a bit depressed and losing confidence in myself with my science grades getting lower no matter what I tried, as well as other things in my personal life. After dropping Science, I had a long wait between classes, so I decided to start watching Little Witch Academia again. Seeing our protagonist Akko trying her best at flying a broom and failing was me with my science grades, but her determination to get her broom just a few centimeters off the ground was so inspiring to watch. After this I watched the other Studio Trigger works I had yet to see, and while they’re all good in their own way, none of them have left the imprint LWA left on me. Sometimes when I get frustrated or lack confidence in myself, I tell myself Shiny Chariot’s words of wisdom that motivated Akko throughout the series: “Never forget your beautiful dreams. Believing is your magic!!”

[sol1056]

anons on the dragon prince

Yes, we all know the comparison points, so I’m skipping those to focus solely on tDP. Alright, starting from the top.

It does speak volumes [...] that tDP has seemingly (and unless proven otherwise in s2 by a fan theory coming true) killed one of a major CoC after only 3 episodes [but] the fandom, and PoC fans more importantly, still trust Ehasz/Wonderstorm and the story to not let them down ...

I was talking to someone the other day who DM’d me about finally seeing tDP, who said something along the lines of “I feel like I can breathe.” Which isn’t that far off what @ptw30 and I were telling each other, when we binge-watched tDP the night of its release. 

First episode, we were both a little ennnhhh over the animation style. Second episode, we barely noticed that anymore. Third episode, everything went to hell in a handbasket and yet our shared reaction was something along the lines of, “I feel like I can settle in, and let the story go where it’s going. I don’t have to stress about this. The writers have got this.” 

Think of being a passenger when the driver isn’t sure where they’re going. They slow repeatedly to check road signs, show an ‘ehhhh oh right no no we’re fine’ expression (or say it out loud), or switch lanes back and forth unexpectedly. Eventually you’re going to give serious thought to pulling out your phone and offering to navigate, just so someone in the car has a clue. Failing that, you end up worrying whether you’ll get there on time (or at all). 

Not once did tDP give me the remotest worry about where it’s going. Even if it seems counterintuitive that we could get to a Manhattan happy ending by way of a Brooklyn character death, the story must have a good reason. We can relax and enjoy the trip. 

It’s hard to pin down what creates that trust for an audience, because it’s so many things. It’s a combination of setups and payoffs. It’s getting emotional beats at regular intervals. It’s having questions raised and getting just enough answered that you don’t feel like the story is covering for not actually knowing and/or hoping you won’t notice it’s making things up as it goes along. 

More behind the cut: tDP’s handling of race, who’s right vs wrong, and whether tDP’s storytelling can/will surpass AtLA.

I rewatched The Dragon Prince recently and it's amazing how carefully they show racism in only 9 episodes [where other shows failed in multiple seasons]. You can see what happens when people in charge care not only about their own characters, but also the audience following their story.

It’s a very thoughtful story, in the sense that the writers clearly put a great deal of thought into each character’s perspective and place. General Amaya is a walking poster child for How To Do This Shit Right Yo, as is Ava. It makes sense that no less attention was paid to the potentially complicated issue of racism, and how viewers’ real-world experiences would impact and layer on top of what the story is trying to do. 

I mean, tDP could’ve decided that Amaya would be deaf... and then proceed to make up its own sign language. Or that magic could (and should) heal disabilities. When the story did neither, it told me the writing team is aware stories don’t exist in a vacuum: that disabled viewers have also been waiting to see themselves on screen, as characters with agency, treated with respect. 

(The lack of subtitles for Amaya may’ve confused those of us who don’t know ASL, but it was absolutely a gift to those who do. It was saying: hey, this is just for you. All those times you’ve missed something that hearing people take for granted? Now’s your turn to be the one in the know. And come on, that’s just awesome.)

Will tDP stumble at some point? Sure. Stories and people are complex things, and the world is a thousand times more so. It’s not the stumbling that bothers me. It’s when a story is thoughtless, because it won’t even recognize its stumbles, let alone fix them. 

I really struggle with liking the show, specifically because it seems to take the stance that the elf girl was "right" to betray the other elves (leading to the slaughter of her entire team). beyond the pain of the ribbon, she doesn't seem to show any sadness or remorse, and then it seems that the human characters are quick to condemn the elf assassins, instead of the king's slaughter of the dragon king. what writing purpose does this serve?

It serves to prompt exactly what you’re doing: asking questions.

The story is full of conflicting interpretations of events, actions, reactions, and motivations if you just think twice. The humans may fear the elves, and do their best to prevent the elves from succeeding --- but Harrow acknowledged explicitly that it’s not as though the elves don’t have just cause. Harrow wasn’t going to go down easy, but I saw no condemnation on his part upon the elves’ retaliation for human crimes. 

Callum argued with Harrow over why Harrow couldn’t just ‘make peace.’ When Rayla shows Runaan the egg and demands Runaan call everything off, isn’t she effectively arguing the same thing? Additionally, Rayla went into the castle determined to make up for her failing; if she’d succeeded in her mission (especially with Callum’s misdirection), it’d be a very short story, indeed. Instead, the three protagonists end up unified in their hope that this could prevent any further bloodshed. 

Note that I say ‘further’ because what is done, and out of their control, is done. Rayla didn’t act out of a wish to betray; when she choose not to assassinate the prince, she acted out of a hope there could be peace. When the first ribbon falls off and the messenger-arrow flies overhead, Rayla’s assumption makes sense, based on those two details: her team achieved at least one of their goals. We don’t know their fate (other than Runaan), but it also sets up a later plot-point where Rayla discovers the team did not, in fact, all return intact. 

For that matter, by the time she learns those details (and concludes who won and who lost), she’s already befriended the princes. From the very first scene, it’s clear Rayla isn’t cut out for this assassination business. She’s incapable of seeing targets. As Ezran later notes, she sees people as, well, people, even when they’re strangers. Is it really so surprising that she’d waffle even more, once those strangers have become something nearing friends, or at least allies? 

So she chooses to keep silent, and her motivation is wonderfully complex, from a writer’s perspective. She wants peace, and believes returning the egg will do that, so reminding the two princes of her role in their father’s death would alienate them, and put her desires at risk. She likes the princes by that point, and doesn’t want to hurt them with such news. And she’s also feeling guilty for the part she played, especially knowing her secret (not just of failing her mission but of preventing anyone else from succeeding) is probably already known. 

Most of that thought process seems to get decided early in the journey. After that, Rayla goes through all the stages as she realizes the consequences of failing to fulfill a sacred oath: anger, bargaining, grief. At the end, Rayla weighs the two options --- keeping her hand, vs killing someone innocent of any crime --- and decides her hand is a small sacrifice in comparison. 

(Note that thematically, this is echoed in Ava’s story. Ava’s paw was caught in a trap, and escaping came at the cost of her paw. Yet Ava remains perfect as she is, and it’s only other people who require Ava appear to be whole. Part of the reason for going up the mountain is to save the egg, but Rayla also implies she wishes she could save her hand, too. Ava’s story is telling us that such a disability doesn’t and shouldn’t render Rayla broken or useless.) 

Alongside that, the boys don’t seem to have fully put together their father’s role in the current situation. I think Callum might have (in a roundabout way), but not so much for Ezran. It’s a process, though. First we’re shown the princes were raised with a bias they’ve never had reason to question, about elves being bloodthirsty monsters. The story lets Rayla call them on it and express her hurt, and the boys are remorseful. 

The story also doesn’t position Callum (as human) as always knowing the rightness of things; hell, it takes Rayla calling him a mage before he even realizes the meaning of what he’s done. The story also shows the boys are eager to learn (and willing to question their assumptions), when Callum asks Rayla what it’s like in her country.

By the end of S1, both princes have worked their way through several points: from ‘all elves are bad’ to ‘Rayla is the one exception’ to ‘maybe elves aren’t the monsters we were told they are.’ The next logical step is for them to begin questioning their father’s actions. Like you, the story is leading them into questioning things that they took for granted when the story began. 

That’s the purpose of creating a story where perspective shifts with each new character: the story is rewarding you for digging deeper.    

A story that doesn’t want those questions raised --- that isn’t prepared to grapple with them --- would tell you from the get-go, “elves are plain evil, that’s all there is to it.” Or, “humans are always good and their actions are righteous.” Any hint of a conflicting perspective would eventually be revealed as false within the story, or a minor oversight outside the story. 

Where tDP is so well-crafted is that it’s given everything enough layers and conflicts that poking at the story reveals more underneath. All you have to do is give it a bit of thought, and you can see a larger picture, and that larger story’s view may be tilted from what you’ve seen so far, if not flipped outright (or flipped back again). That’s the beauty of a large cast where each character has their own motivation, agency, reasons and beliefs and assumptions: there’s always another side to things.

That’s what makes a story truly rich and deep. Not the worldbuilding, not the complexity of the final solution, not the number of product placements or jokes or high-octane fight sequences. It’s characters with individual perspectives and motivations, agreeing and conflicting per their own purposes, and each one seeing themselves as the hero of their own story.  

...what is it about TDP that makes it a good show for you? What is it you like about it, what about it pulls you in? And would you say it's on par or close to the quality of Avatar?

I think my answers above have probably already covered your question, but I’ll add this: I think tDP has potential to not just be ‘on par’ with Avatar but to leave it far, far behind. 

I mean, AtLA is already ten years old. In 2003, Ehasz’ credits consisted of three freelance episodes for two shows, and one episode as a staff writer. That’s it. That he catapulted from that to head-of-story for AtLA speaks to a definite talent --- but of course he’d get better from there, with ten intervening years of continuing to hone his craft. 

I’d say there are two places where it’s most apparent: exposition and humor. While I (mostly) like AtLA, the exposition could be somewhat clunky. It needed to be in there, but it wasn’t always quite as deft as I would’ve liked, in terms of combining information with characterization. 

The writing in tDP is far superlative in that regard. We get exposition, yes, but it's not delivering answers so much as answering one thing to raise ten more questions. There are almost no “as you know Bob” exchanges. When Rayla talks about what her country is like, it’s exposition, but it’s also a wonderful characterization moment; Rayla’s love for her world shines through, along with a certain ambivalence about her place in that world.

The other place Ehasz has improved a thousand-fold is his humor. One of the things I hated most about AtLA was its use of bathos: taking a serious moment and turning on a dime to crack a joke and trivialize the moment. (Sokka was the worst offender, but no character was immune.) As AtLA went on, the story scaled back on that, but it still raised its head often enough to make me wince.

In contrast, tDP’s humor is seamlessly organic. When Rayla yells, “I’m not falling for that flashing frog trick again!” she’s deadly serious, but that makes the bizarre phrase even funnier. When Gren translates Amaya’s sarcasm and has a beat in which he’s clearly trying to find a family-friendly way to translate “bullshit”... that beat is the joke. We don’t need someone gesticulating wildly to tell us it’s funny. 

At the same time, Ehasz is clearly unafraid, now, to let the serious moments be. He doesn’t trivialize the characters’ emotions with a joke; the story isn’t afraid we’ll see it as cheesy or asinine -- as less -- when it’s being sincere. 

As Carol Burnett once put it, comedy is tragedy at a distance. What tDP is doing isn’t comedy in that sense, where the characters themselves (as AtLA often did) use humor to distance themselves. Instead, it’s humor most often in one of three modes. 

One is when a character intends to crack a joke: Soren and Claudia jibing each other, or Callum attempting to lighten everyone’s spirits. This is kept relatively light, so it’s not a constant thing, as if too much levity is to be feared.

The second is simply a witty delivery, like Rayla when her temper’s up. She doesn’t deliver the line “I’m habsolutely hurious” as if she expects a laugh; she is angry, after all. Or when Soren decides to let Callum 'win’ the bout: Soren’s melodramatic as all get out, but he’s not mocking Callum, for whom impressing Claudia is a big deal. Soren’s dramatic words and over-acting are actually a wonderfully compact characterization that tells us a whole lot in a single scene of what someone should expect when Soren tries to ‘help’. 

In the penultimate episode, when Rayla accepts the consequences of her choice and decides she’s okay with paying, this is a significant emotional beat. Her conclusion is... well, it makes sense given her thoughts to this point. 

But it’s also a blunt and rather startling way to put it. Again, this isn’t cracking a joke to create distance from emotion. It’s wittier than that. 

Ezran’s shock as he registers the words is barely two frames. Any longer and it’d be overplayed. Between basically saying someone's friendship is worth a body part, and Ezran’s half-beat of shock, the combination definitely startled a laugh out of me. 

And here’s the thing: in AtLA, one of the two would’ve cracked a joke. The story would’ve backed away from what really, underneath, is a pretty phenomenal admission. Not just of friendship, but also of how Rayla herself has changed so significantly between when she made that oath, versus where she sits now. 

Ezran’s response is both funny (again, in a witty sense) but also just as heartfelt. It’s also extremely telling in terms of Ezran’s characterization. 

The one character most likely to crack a joke --- Callum --- doesn’t always, either. In fact, sometimes he’s remarkably vulnerable and honest in ways Sokka, his spiritual predecessor, wasn’t allowed to be. At the same point that Ezran and Rayla are having their heart-to-heart, Callum’s admitting freely that he doesn’t have immense power; he just has a swirly stone that does the work for him. He doesn’t make a joke of Ellis’ compliment, nor make fun of himself. 

Ellis’ line was delivered seriously, as she has every reason to believe her perspective is true. If Callum were to joke, he’d be mocking her sincerity, and the story is willing to respect that Callum is someone who responds to sincerity with sincerity of his own. 

In a word, tDP is unafraid of its own heart. 

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 37: Gotta go fast!

I’m gonna sprinkle in some chat segments from the live watch that @miyukomatsuda and I did of the episode as it aired, but this is mostly my watch of the RiderTime sub.

(I’m also hoping to do a watch of some of the recent episodes again, but with the O-T subs, so that I can get a more… well phrased translation.)

As always, spoilers for Zi-O episode 37 below the cut.

~~~~~

So, a giant meteorite just hit. It doesn’t have a Rider inside this time, though! No, it has Worms! Shapeshifters! Who are basically the Zygons!

(I don’t go to Doctor Who anymore, but that’s what I’ve been told, and the impression I got from Marcosatsu’s History of Kabuto vid.)

Team 9-to-5 are watching a news broadcast at breakfast about the meteorite – aaaand nope, newscaster’s a Worm, much to the poor cameraman’s surprise.

Cressy: Woz: Welp! Found out who we’ve got this week!

Miyuko: “My turn to do things.”

Miyuko: “Also, we dealt with the gas leak.”

Miyuko: “We should all be sane again.”

(The idiot ball was in full force during the Kiva Arc. We will never let it rest.)

~~~~~

Sougo, Tsukuyomi, and Geiz are headed off to see where that second meteorite hit, the one with the worms on it, when a third one shoots down, in the other direction. So, off they go, splitting the party. Again.

Poor Geiz, he’s with Woz again. Who, by the way, is nowhere to be seen, having ditched the team to go do his recap.

At… the Hachiko statue.

Huh.

And the key player for this fortnight’s worth of episodes… Kamen Rider Gatack – Arata Kagami.

Who is clearly in a state of “Not this again...” as another meteorite streaks by. Or it could be that one that split the party, it’s a little hard to say.

~~~~~

They used part of the Kabuto opening – with the beetle wings – to cut into the OP this time! Nice touch!

I was host for the stream Miyuko and I did when we watched the Raw, and I BLINKED AND MISSED THE FORM RUN THROUGH that time! And here I pride myself on noticing differences in the OPs!

But Kamen Rider Woz’s base form has been replaced by his Ginga form, with the ‘base’ version, Ginga Finaly shown in full, and the Planet and Sun forms shown in bust form.

~~~~~

And FINALLY, they notice that the Another Rider’s aren’t erasing the previous Riders from history anymore! They haven’t been doing that for a while, guys. I mean, if they were still doing it, you wouldn’t have been able to have all of your senpai help you out in the movie last December… you know, shortly before you moved into having Future Riders for a while, and then back into the older Legend Riders.

You might write it off as ‘odd’, or ‘paradoxes have messed with space-time nearly beyond repair’, but I still say that time travel doesn’t work like you think it does.

I will hold my ‘they have been faking it’ theory until absolutely proven otherwise, folks.

…and I’m still going to be using it in ReUnited, anyway. ~Fanfiction land says I can do what I want.~

Besides, Sougo’s having fun! He’s getting to meet all of these Kamen Riders, after all!

…Sougo, kitty, I’m pretty sure you still don’t quite get how serious some of this is, but you get a solid B for effort.

~~~~~

Cressy: THEY FINALLY REALIZE THAT THEY AREN’T ERASING PEOPLE ANYMORE

Miyuko: YOU DUMBASSES

Miyuko: Mouri: DAMNIT SHIMOMIYA STOP MAKING ME HANDLE LORE

~~~~~

At the third landing site…

Woz. Woz you are so unbelievably petty. “I will be giving the orders around here, let’s go.” For crying out loud, Woz, just work as a team with Geiz, please.

So, off they go, into battle against a swarm of Worms using Faiz and Kikai!

~~~~~

Miyuko: if sougo goes to space i’m gonna yell that I called it

~~~~~

SOUGO IS SO DUMB.

SOUGO. You already knew that they could copy people. You SAW one do it on tv. So why would you assume that the people working at the crash site, where that broadcast came from, were normal humans?

Sougo, PLEASE.

Also, it looks like the Worms agree with me: right before they drop their disquises, they’re giving him this look like “Wow, this kid is dumb.”

And before Sougo bothers to transform, shots fly from off screen~!

Hey there, Gatack! Nice to see you’re doing okay!

~~~~~

Meanwhile, over with Woz and Geiz, we’ve got them landing finishers on a pair of Worms… but there’s still more of them. And, as Woz finally bothers to mention…

Worms can go faster than you can see when they get stronger.

(I agree with Geiz’s frustration at not having been told this sooner! WOZ!!)

Good thing they’ve got Revive Typhoon and Shinobi~~!

~~~~~

Back with Sougo and Kagami… They finish off a mass of Worms, but something red knocks them down.

Something – sorry, someone – that Kagami calls ‘Kageyama’.

Enter PunchHopper.

And with his entrance, Kagami goes into Gatack’s cast off Rider form – and right into Clock Up.

~~~~~

Cressy: “Hey, new kid, how fast can you go?”

Cressy: Actually, super speed is a problem for Sougo!

Miyuko: Sougo: UHHHHHHH

Miyuko: He has to hide

Cressy: Because he couldn’t keep up with Revive so

~~~~~

The battle starts to deal some collateral damage to the infrastructure, leading to rubble starting to fall towards a mother and child.

Tsukuyomi says no.

A stopwatch ticks.

The rubble freezes in midair, letting the civilians escape.

Tsukuyomi sees something.

Herself, younger, and three people facing away from the cameras viewpoint. At least one is an adult – presumably male, in an outfit that looks an awful lot like the one Swartz wore in 2009. The other two… I think the one to the left of the screen is a young girl, with pigtails. The one on the right looks to be an adult male… and it’s very grainy, but that style of dress looks like a black and white version of what Sougo’s uncle wears.

Of course, she only focuses in on young her and almost-definitely-Swartz.

Please, Toei, Shimomiya, I am begging you, do not let anyone be related. We’ve got both time travel and amnesia going on in here already, we do not want you to go that route!

~~~~~

Swartz sees this from a nearby roof, and notes that her powers are getting stronger, and soon they’ll completely awaken.

Someone asks what will happen when they do.

~~~~~

Miyuko: **YELLS**

Miyuko: TSUKASA

Cressy: Tsukasa: Sup.

Miyuko: WERE YOU OFF GETTING LAID TSUKASA

Cressy: Look at that posture

Cressy: Daiki showed up.

Cressy: he def was.

~~~~~

Tsukasa: “So… you’re connected to that girl somehow. I’ve been doing some investigating…”

Swartz: “Oh, yeah, sure. Do what you want… If you can.” (he says in an ominous tone, ominously.)

Tsukasa: “Thanks. I’ll do just that.”

~~~~~

Back on the ground, Sougo… is getting his ass handed to him. But! He does have the realization that the speed PunchHopper and Gatack are moving at is similar to Geiz Revive Typhoon… and he’s figured out a way to counter that.

It used to be that he was only looking one move ahead when he used Zi-O II’s precog abilities.

He’s looking ahead three here.

Sougo knows he won’t be able to react in time for the first two strikes, but the third…

On the third he can time a strike of his own.

And he knocks PunchHopper down.

Gatack tries to finish him off – but a red blur takes the hit.

Another Kabuto has made his appearance, and it looks like he’s Sou Yaguruma, former alias KickHopper. He grabs PunchHopper, and nyooms right on out of there.

~~~~~

Miyuko: OH FUCK IT’S ONE FO THE HOPPER BROS

Cressy: OH MY GOD ANOTHER KABUTO IS ONE OF THE HOPPER BROS

Miyuko: KAGAMIII

Cressy: OR A WORM OF ONE OF THEM

Miyuko: IS IT TIME FOR HIM TO SUFFER (We saw one was a worm

Miyuko: (shame we uh

Miyuko: (remember the rider sona

~~~~~

(Miyuko’s at least watched some Kabuto, but not very far. I, on the other hand, have seen exactly none, and would have no idea which one we saw in the cold open.)

~~~~~

Now then, we jump to Kagami explaining the situation to Woz and Sougo at the shop, giving them a basic run down of who the Hell Brothers are, along with showing them pictures. Pictures of the terribly dated late ‘00’s Hot Topic discount bin wardrobes that those two wore.

Kagami: So, the PunchHopper is definitely a Worm mimicking the original.

Woz: How can you know?

~~~~~

Miyuko: Woz intensifies

Miyuko: “Pretty sure he’s dead.”

Cressy: “So, yeah, he’s dead, but. uh. Apparently not anymore.”

Miyuko: “Fuck if I know, guys.”

Miyuko: Shibuya!

Miyuko: FLASHBACK TO KABUTO

Cressy: “Also, it’s really weird that Shibuya exists again.”

Miyuko: “Wait what”

Miyuko: Sougo: :)

Miyuko: Woz: “THE FUCK?!”

~~~~~

So, yeah, the timelines are a mess here. In 1999, in Kabuto, Shibuya was destroyed by a meteorite – one carrying the Worms. It’s … incredibly intact here.

OH. DUUUHHHH. That’s why Woz was at the Hachiko Statue!

It’s at Shibuya station.

WOW, I feel dumb. I remembered who Hachiko was, but didn’t catch the link as to why Woz would be there until just now.

Also, Sougo, I get that you were born in 2000, but. Like. That was only one year later. I thought your only decent subject was history! If this happened in the current timeline, you ought to know about it!

~~~~~

At an overlook, Geiz finds Tsukuyomi, having been told about her using her time powers again, and she tells him that she remembered something. Her mother and father, and ‘another man’.

… wait SHIT I said that the seated man’s outfit looked a lot like Junichiro’s, didn’t I? ABORT MISSION! NO, NO, NO! CALL IT OFF! STOP THE RIDE, I WANNA GET OFF!

Tsukasa appears on the scene. “Hey, so. Do you want to take a look and see what was going on back there? I’m trying to find the source of why the fabric of space and time is getting holes poked in it, so if you want to come along…”

… Okay, so he says ‘distorted,’ according to the RT subs, but it amounts to the same thing.

Geiz thinks this is a terrible idea, but Tsukuyomi wants to know who she is. So she goes with him.

Er, Tsuka- Tsukasa? I think you are a poster child for ‘sometimes you are better off not knowing who you used to be’, just as much as you are for ‘don’t lean too hard into the world-destruction prophecies.’ You may want to rethink your stance on this.

Mind you, you’re also a shining example of ‘there’s no escaping destiny’ and ‘you can’t thwart stage one’, so I guess that ship has already sailed.

~~~~~

Miyuko: TSUKASA’S UP TO THINGS

Cressy: Tsukasa: “GUYS, QUIT FUCKING WITH THE TIMELINE. YOU’RE MAKING MY JOB AND THE DENLINER CREW’S JOBS THAT MUCH HARDER”

~~~~~

So, a quick call between Geiz and Sougo, and we switch back to the Sougo and Woz team. (Man, we’re really getting the groups together this week, aren’t we?)

They’re confronted by Kageyama – who, yes, is a Worm. And he admits it. But he still has the original Kageyama’s memories as a human, and he wants them to help his brother. Worm or human, he can’t stand to see Yaguruma as an Another Rider – as a monster. They’ve seen too much hell for him to want any more.

Woz: My lord, this is clearly a trap.

Sougo: You need to start trusting people, Woz. Besides, we want to help save Yaguruma, too, don’t we? :)

Except that that is not his usual ‘This is going fine!’ smile. That is a smile of ‘he knows what’s going on.’

… You know, So Okuno’s really grown into his role, here. I think he’ll be able to do pretty well once he graduates from Sougo.

(He’s grown into his role, if not his clothing. Seriously, wardrobe department, could you let him wear clothes that fit properly? Why was this whole ‘everything is minimum a size and a half too big’ thing a decision?)

ANYWAY. THIS is a good scene for the instrumental of Toki no Ouja.

Also, you can hear the belts and chains Kageyama’s wearing well before you see them.

~~~~~

A quick interlude to Junichiro, back at the shop, having just fixed a radio. He goes to make sure it’s actually fixed, and turns it to the news.

There’s a large meteor headed for the center of Tokyo. And it’s much larger than the previous ones that have hit.

…

WAIT WHAT

(cue shot of said meteor in space)

~~~~~

Miyuko: OH MY GOD THEY ARE GOING TO SPACE

~~~~~

And now, to a totally-not-suspicious definitely-not-a-trap perfectly-harmless warehouse.

Sougo: So, Yaguruma’s supposed to be in here, right? (proceeds to walk in, with his back towards the guy who literally calls himself one of the Hell Brothers, like an idiot)

KAGEYAMA GOES TO STRANGLE HIM FROM BEHIND. BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES.

But he doesn’t get to – because Kagami bodychecks him away.

Kagami: “Kid, NO! You’re too naive! Walking into a trap like this!”

Kageyama: “Ahahaha… I mean, yeah, it’s a trap, but it’s not for the brat.”

Another Kabuto SLAMS into Kagami.

Kageyama: “We’re after you.”

Kagami and Kageyama both transform.

~~~~~

Cressy: THANK YOU KAGAMI

Miyuko: Aw yiss

Miyuko: Shoutout to Mouri USING THE RETURNING LADS

Cressy: STRAIGHT INTO CAST OFF

Cressy: UNLIKE INOUE

~~~~~

PunchHopper LUNGES at Sougo, who is just standing there – there’s a clicking sound – and a massive surge of gravity slams PunchHopper to the ground. (cue Miyuko and I basically just shouting WHAT into the chat)

Oh my god. Turns out Woz’s attack is even more ridiculous than I’d thought. He’s allegedly channeling the gravity of 10,000 black holes, because that’s totally a thing that’s possible. … Meh, he’s got reinforcements from the armor, he’ll be fine.

Woz: Ah, yes, as expected of my overlord. Taking advantage of the enemies trap-

Sougo: Er, actually, I just wanted him to take me to Yaguruma. Now we just have to defeat the two of them. (goes to transform)

Everything starts to shake.

Oh, there’s that giant meteor!

Rider Time!

Zi-O! Fourze!

3! 2! 1! Fourze!

~~~~~

Miyuko: HE’S GOING TO

Miyuko: OH MY GOOOOD

Cressy: UCHUUU KITAAAAAAAAA

Miyuko: UCHUU IKUUUUU

Miyuko: Sougo pls

Cressy: FINE I’LL TAKE THE MESS UP

~~~~~

I mean, if it stops a GIANT METEOR FROM HITTING TOKYO? I don’t CARE if he gets the catchphrase wrong!

And it’s pretty close, anyway. Way better than his attempts at Ex-Aid’s and especially Build’s catchphrases.

~~~~~

Back to Gatack versus the Hell Brothers, who are soon joined by Woz.

Turns out, Yaguruma doesn’t care that Kageyama’s a Worm, since he’s the only one willing to be his partner.

After being tremendously outsped, and taking a few good blows, Woz unleashes an incredibly over-the-top finisher in the form of his Planetary Explosion. Yes, I know that’s not the actual name, but my computer’s autocorrect is a pain, and I’m not going to try typing out any of the forms that attacks real name can take. I don’t want to teach my computer that.

And there’s a huge explosion of flame, flames spreading across the floor… Woz gives a grandiose pair of quotes in a very Tendou style, down to the pointing. But a sound comes from ground zero of the attack.

A green suit drags itself into a standing position.

KickHopper: I don’t believe in the power of the universe… I only believe in the power of hell…

He lands a Rider Kick that Woz just manages to get a guard up in time to block. When Woz can look up… nobody’s there.

Geiz comes in… but none of the three returning characters are around anymore.

There is, however, a ‘message’. Someone’s left a package of instant bowl ramen, and a note, with one word.

“Hell.”

SO THAT’S NOT OMINOUS AS FUCK AT ALL.

~~~~~

Miyuko: “Wait, I’ve had this form one ep why am I being worfed”

Cressy: WELCOME TO BAD TIMES

Cressy: ON BOTH ENDS OF THE TIMELINE

~~~~~

A portal appears in the air, in 2058. Tsukuyomi and Tsukasa step out, to when she would have been 8 years old, into a ruined city.

With an incredibly ominous looking cloud front and thunderstorm off in the distance.

~~~~~

Back to 2019… Geiz… is in no position to do anything but leave the whole meteor thing to Sougo. A man in black, with copious chains, drags himself through the river below. “Did… someone laugh at me?”

Yaguruma, what are you doing there?

~~~~~

IT’S SPACE TIME!

Sougo’s ready! He can do this! He -

Did not realize how big that was actually going to be!

But he drills through the meteor with a Limit Time Break, shattering it… and also releasing a bunch of Worms that were in there into the vacuum of space.

Oh well.

Except that one wasn’t the real problem.

No, the real problem is that the grey meteor?

Is a pebble in comparison to the giant red one behind it.

Everything is very red in 2068.

~~~~~

Miyuko: THISISFINE

Miyuko: oh shit

Miyuko: IS THIS WHY THE EARTH IS FUCKED UP

Miyuko: SPAAACE

Miyuko: oh boy SOUGO PLS

Cressy: SOUGO BABBY

Miyuko: GEN WOULD BE SO PROUD

Cressy: DID YOU NOT REALIZE FROM HOW BIG IT SEEMED

Cressy: OBJECTS IN MIRROR-

Miyuko: HOLY SHIT

Miyuko: POSE

(He was pretty close, with the pose! It’s… probably easier in 0G, given Gens whole thing.)

Cressy: OH MY GOD HE DRILLED THROUGH A METEOR

Miyuko: OH NOOOOOOOO FUCK

Cressy: OH MY GOD THAT WAS A PEBBLE

Miyuko: OH NO OH NO OH NOOOOOOO

Miyuko: THIS IS WHY THE EARTH IS FUCKED IN 2068 ISN’T IT

Cressy: OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO FUCK UP THE PLANET

Cressy: IT’S REMNANTS ALL OVER AGAIN. I AM HAVING K.A. APPLEGATE FLASHBACKS HERE

Miyuko: WELL BOY FUCKING HOWDY WHAT A ZI O. -oh god PLEASE LET THE KABUTO WATCH GO TO KAGAMI. PLEASE

Miyuko: But Damn that was toei making it up to us from last week huh

Cressy: OH YES

Miyuko: GOOD USE OF RETURNING ACTORS.

DRAMA

STAKES

SOUGO DRILLING A METEOR.

TSUKASA CAME BACK.

Cressy: Tsukasa: “It’s not technically spoilers if it’s your own past, right? Right. I could have used this sort of heads up.”

~~~~~

So! Yeah! We were! Basically just completely screaming after that!

This is a much better episode than the last two. Thank you, Mouri-san! THANK YOU!

[the-lupine-sojourner]

Takara’s Hero Academia Season 2 Episode 3 (but actually still 2) [Eijiro/OC] [Aizawa/Hizashi]

Okay, so I apologize for just now getting to the end of episode 2 and the start of the Sports Festival! And I didn’t do the sneak peek. So so so sorry!! 

I’ll do the sneak peek on Patreon and all that next time. Ugh I feel so bad about this! But I don’t wanna make this chapter any later, so here we go. 

Anyway! The Masterlist for This Series! 

And the taglist: @elite-guard-hardygal , @dailyojiromashirao , @souskena , and @fandoms-fandoms-everywhere99 . I’m sorry, guys!! I feel weird about posting this for some reason, but hope you all like it! 

Before I get to the story, I jsut awnna say I included a paraphrased quote from my favorite book; Red wall. The actual quote is ‘Even the strongest and bravest must sometimes weep.’ Also, I could resist slipping Asami in again. Hope y’all don’t mind!

God Bless and Good Day! 

~The Lupine Sojourner

“Takara, you ready to go?” Dad calls.

“Yeah, I’ve just finished packing the last box!” I call back. It was a week until the Sports Festival, and we were moving today. We all didn’t have a lot of stuff, so it was a simple one-day thing in theory. So far so good, though.

I hoist the box up and walk out to the living room. This box had the miscellaneous things I wanted to keep, like the old ratty fox stuffed animal that I could never get rid of for sentimental reasons, or pictures of Mom, Dad, and I, or posters and other decorations.

I plop it down. “Man, I didn’t realize how many different decorations I had in my room.” I laugh. Mom smiles. Dad had convinced her to go to Recovery Girl as often as I had and her arms looked better every day. The casts had been taken off and she was doing exercises to get them reacquainted with the things she normally did and how strong she had been. We even worked out together, going for a morning jog followed by yoga and a core workout routine.

In short, we were slowly getting to the point we’d been at before the attack. Mom and I were getting better mentally, too, but that was a long road for a number of reasons, one being the level of shit we went through, two being the severity of our injuries and the fact that the villains had caught us entirely by surprise. We loaded the last few boxes, refused to ‘say bye house’ like Dad prompted, and drove toward UA and our small condo on campus.

Once we got there, all of us grabbed boxes and I followed Mom and Dad’s lead, falling a little behind as I’d been a tad ambitious, trying to carry both my first backpack of clothes and box of decorations.

In fact, when I went to grab the door I was just a second too late to grab before it closed, I end up overbalancing, slamming my face and nose into the glass, before collapsing awkwardly to the ground, the box going flying and the contents spilling out. “Shoot!” I curse, groaning as I pick myself up. I then feel a twinge in my ankle. Apparently, I’d rolled it a little and it didn’t appreciate that.

I sigh heavily and begin picking up the box and putting the stuff back in, feeling oddly emotional about the shattered glass in a few of the framed pictures. Tears even well in my eyes and I resist the urge to start crying. All I wanted was a normal day with my family, unpacking and starting over in our new home.

Turns out, that wasn’t exactly easy. I wipe my eyes and sigh heavily before I make myself start gathering the spilled objects, minding the broken glass. I really don’t know why I’m crying, but the tears come back and this time I couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, are you okay?” I flinch and look up from plopping another glass-less frame in the box. I look up and blink in shock.

“O-oh! Asami-senpai! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I squeak. She was trying to hand me a poster she rolled up. I gulp back a lump in my throat and take it, trying to subtly wipe my eyes.

“You know, after an incident like that, it’s okay to cry.” She says softly, hand over mine reassuringly. I shrink into myself in embarrassment.

“You saw that?” I whimper. She nods.

“And I meant what I said. Really, it’s scary fighting villains and having it be life or death. I remember my first fight.” Her eyes are serious, not looking at anything in particular as she spoke, obviously reminiscing about that day.

“Oh...from your work-study?” I ask softly. Being the daughter of two UA teachers who are also pro heroes, I knew all about work studies. She nods.

“It was a group of muggers trying to start a gang. They’d cornered civilians in a back alley and I was working with the Ryuku agency for my work study. We intervened and put them behind bars. I almost got impaled by one of the villains’ air weapon Quirk.” I raise a brow.

“Air weapon?” I ask. Asami nods.

“Hardened air limited to the breath in his lungs and weapons like spears or swords. Annoying, but the situation whacked me. I spent the rest of the day looking over my shoulder and paranoid at anything and everything. I had to have a long talk with dad to finally start to get over it. It’s hard to cope with an experience like this.” I bite my lip and nod.

“I want to be strong, but…”

“Even the strongest and bravest sometimes cry. It’s not a sign of weakness. It shows you feel and you’re human. It’s a perfectly reasonable reaction.” I smile at her, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

“Thank you.” I murmur. She picks up the box as we stand and she hands it to me.

“No problem. Oh, and you can call me ‘Ami’, Okay?” I nod, smiling.

“Okay!”

=#=#=#=#=

“What on earth are you doing?” A hear a voice ask. I turn my head from my Downward Dog position while trying to turn a glass of water into ice (sorta like Shoto, but...not exactly) after a run to see Oba Nemuri standing there, watching me curiously, a touch of amusement in her voice.

Fortunately, she was wearing her teaching clothes. As a teacher, there were certain standards to be upheld so she couldn’t be too outlandish. She had a light purple button-up (with as many buttons as she could get away with undone), a dark grey blazer on top, with a miniskirt I’m fairly certain was not up to the standard dress code. She also had thigh-high leather boots on.

I sigh and move to stand properly. While she is my aunt, it’s always slightly awkward being around her. I do love her, but she’s so...uh, unreserved, and I’d rather not be corrupted just yet.

“Hey, Oba.” I greet. “I’m practicing for the Festival.” She grins.

“Oh, how adorable!” She squeals, wriggling in delight. I blush. Why was she like this? “I must say, that Quirk of yours is really something else!” I manage a grin. She looks at the glass. It felt cool to the touch, but it wasn’t ice by a long shot. And it was draining my blood sugar faster than I’d like to keep trying. “Are you trying to make that water into ice or something? Too cute, darling!” I nod. This was just who Oba Nemuri was. It wouldn’t be fair to judge someone simply because of who they are, right? I only had about an hour with Oba Nemuri. She suggested I make my fighting style all about a whip after I showed her the different things I could do. I turned her down and she demonstrated a few kicks, at least, before she checked the time. “Well, darling, it looks like duty calls.” She sighs, with a touch more drama than needed, really. “My class starts in a quarter hour and I have to freshen up a bit. Mind if I pop into the bathroom real fast?” She asks, almost flirtatiously, winking at me as she grabs a small purse. I hold in a groan and point out where it was.

“Go ahead, Oba,” I reply. She giggles and thanks me before heading into it and closing the door. I move to the kitchen and grab a container of leftover tonkatsu to heat up for a kind-of brunch. She was too much sometimes.

By the time I’ve sat down with the food, Oba Nemuri is back. She draws me in for a hug from behind, kissing my cheek.

“Sorry to run off like this, Nīsu.” She apologizes. “Your parents wanted me to check in on you real quick. Do tell your parents this is a housewarming gift for your mother, would you?” I nod. The present she put in front of me was suspiciously small and in a Victoria’s Secrets bag. I flush, imagining what kind of present Oba had given my mom.

“I’ll make sure she gets it.” I murmur, hoping I didn’t sound as embarrassed as I felt, and Oba Nemuri gives me one last cheek-kiss and leaves. I wave at her, mouth too full to speak, and that’s that.

=#=#=#=#=

Turns out, training almost constantly made time fly by. Mashirao and I had started sparring and it turns out he’s a great teacher. He praised when earned, and sometimes mixed a bit of critique into his praises so I’d learn even from victories (of which there were few), and he was always going all-out on me. He knew that I could take it, and it also helped strengthen my leg and ribs, so we all won.

“Thanks, Mashirao.” I murmur as we walk back to the locker rooms to shower and head home.

“No problem. It’s a great way for me to exercise, too, so we all win. Plus, it’s always more fun to teach when the student is a natural at the subject.” I laugh.

“Thanks, but we know that’s not true,” I reply, scratching the back of my neck. He is quick to shake his head.

“No, I meant it. You’re getting really good, Takara!”

“Thanks,” I reply, then check my phone and see the date. “Oh, crap! The Festival is tomorrow!” I squeak. He blinks.

“I lost track of time. That’s crazy!”

“I know!” He holds up a hand.

“Well, let’s both do our best, okay?” I high-five him.

“Okay!”

=#=#=#=#=

“Nervous?” Dad asks. I gulp.

“What gave it away?” I reply, voice wavering a little. Dad laughs.

“Sweetheart, it’s fine to be nervous.” I nod.

“I know.” The car pulls into the teacher parking lot and we check in, Mom holding Dad’s hand. I notice she’s been doing that a lot since she got her hands out of the casts. I probably would, too, in her situation. It’d only been about a week, but even being unable to use your hands that long...I can’t even imagine. Now, her arms were wrapped in stiff bandages as her arms were slowly regaining strength and the last of the healing in the bones was finishing with a little help from Recovery Girl. Due to the extent to which the bones were broken, it was difficult for Recovery Girl to heal a whole lot per session. There was a lot that needed to happen in Mom’s arms, and it was taking a long time to restore what Nomu broke.

I see my classmates gathering, so I adjust my backpack and walk over. As usual, Eijiro is first to notice me, walking over as I turn to wave Mom and Dad goodbye so they could get ready to commentate on the Festival. How dad managed to convince Mom to do it, I have no idea, but I’m glad. It will get her mind off...other things.

“Hey, Takara.” Eijiro greets. I smile and accept his side-hug. We’d gotten a bit more comfortable around each other and usually gave each other hugs as a greeting. He still smelled amazing, and I always had to restrain myself from continuously sniffing him. “You nervous?” I take a breath and nod a little.

“Yeah...you?”

“Just a little. I’ve always loved watching the Festival growing up and now I’m actually in one, you know?”

“Mmhmm.” I hum in reply, feeling my stomach squirm in anxiety as we walk to the 1-A general waiting room. There, we found PE outfits waiting, and Mina groans when we’re all changed.

“Aww, man!” She whines. “I was totally hoping I could wear my costume.” I shrug, but Mashirao beats me to speaking.

“At least everyone’s in uniforms, so it’s fair, right?” Rikido is shaking in his seat, anxiety clearly written on his face.

“I wonder what they have in store for us in the first round.” He mumbles. I shrug.

“Well, as long as we do our best, it doesn’t really matter, right?” He nods.

“Right,” Fumikagi interjects. “No matter what they’ve prepared, we must persevere.” I nod.

“Yeah!” Tenya then comes suddenly into the room, startling me.

“Everyone, get your game faces on!” He calls. “We’re entering the arena soon!” I feel my stomach flip in nervous anticipation. Everyone murmurs and reacts. I grab my heart, willing it to calm down (not that it listens to me).

“Midoriya,” Shoto calls, walking over to my friend. Izuku turns to him.

“Hey, Todoroki.” He replies. “What’s up?”

“From an objective standpoint, I think it’s fairly clear I’m stronger than you.” I blink. Izuku nods meekly.

“Yeah…” He replies. I step forward to defend Izuku but then halt as Shoto continues.

“However, you’ve got All Might in your corner helping you out. I’m not here to pry about what’s going on between you two, but know that I will beat you.” I pale.

“Shoto, where is this coming from?” I ask, frowning.

“I’ve never pretended to be something I’m not. This shouldn’t be a surprise, really. I’m just stating facts to make things clear before this competition begins.” Shoto replies, not even looking at me.

“What’s with all these declarations of war lately?” Denki asks lightly, attempting to defuse the situation as Eijiro walks over, putting a hand on Shoto’s shoulder.

“Yeah, what’s the big deal? Why’re you picking a fight all of a sudden, right before we get started?” He asks. Shoto just walks away.

“We’re not here to be each other’s friends.” He calls over his shoulder. “Don’t forget; this isn’t a team effort.” I bite my lip.

“Shoto, c’mon. Pros can’t go around declaring war on each other. They have to team up at some point- -”

“Yeah, hang on,” Izuku interjects. “I don’t know what’s going through your head, or why you think you need to tell me that you’ll beat me, and yeah...of course you’re better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the Hero Course. It’s why you got in so easily.” I step toward Izuku.

“Stop that!” I bark. “Recommendations aren’t an invitation to UA! You have to fight the pool of people with recommendations. In some ways, it’s harder than the entrance exam! That’s why I didn’t choose that path. I could have been recommended by my mom and dad and gotten into the recommendations entrance exam. But I knew there would be so many people that were a lot better than me. I knew I didn’t stand a chance.” I realize I kinda admitted to the facts Izuku is stating and bite my lip.

“Midoriya, Takara, maybe you’re being a little hard on yourself. And us.” He murmurs.

“No, he’s right, you guys.” Izuku counters. “The other courses, Takara’s friend, they’re all coming after us with everything they got. We’re all gonna have to fight to stand out.” Izuku looks at Shoto. “I’ll be aiming for the top, too.” I nod, stepping forward.

“I agree.” I turn to look at Shoto. “I know you’re focusing on beating Izuku, Shoto,” I continue, “but don’t think we’re all gonna stand back and let this Festival slide. We’re all going to do our best and we’ll show the world what we can go.” He tsks, not stopping or looking back.

“I don’t care what you do.” The announcement to get ready came after a few moments of awkward silence and we move toward the exit into the open area at the middle of the stadium.

“Hey!” Dad cheers and I can hear him all the way back here. “Make some noise, avid sports fans!!” I gulp. It was almost time. “Get those cameras prepped! We’re gonna need hordes! Today, we’ll be bringing you some of the greatest performances in Sports Festival history, guaranteed!” I feel like that’s hyping this festival up just a little too much, but obviously, I don’t know what will happen, so… “I only have one question before we start this show; are you ready?!” The crowd’s cheering is infectious, and we can hear it loud and clear as we begin walking. “Lemme hear yah scream as our students make their way onto the main stage!” I can also hear fireworks and lively music playing. “This is the time where the students leave everything on the field as they fight for the chance to achieve worldwide fame and celebrity!” I can’t help rolling my eyes. Most of us want to make a difference in the world in one way or another. Honestly, I doubt anyone (Mineta aside) is truly just wanting to be a hero for the recognition and fame, even Bakugo. Bakugo’s motivations aren’t precisely clear, but I do know he wants to be the top. I also wonder if there’s not more to it than that, though. “This first group are no strangers to the spotlight! You know them for withstanding a villain attack! These dazzling students, including my little kiddo, line up the stage with solid gold skills; the Hero Course students of Class 1-A!” That was our cue and we walk out into the sunlight and view of the cameras as the crowd applauds heartily. I feel thousands of eyes of me and my friends as we walk toward the middle of the area. Eijiro, standing close by, grabs my hand subtly. I squeeze it gratefully.

“Yer dad sure did talk us up a lot.” Eijiro muses.

“Yeah...it’s making me nervous and worried I won’t do well.” I reply. “Especially since he all but said my name.” I add in a moan. Eijiro smiles at me.

“Yeah, he’s your dad. It’s kinda natural for him to brag about you when he gets a chance.” He then turns to Katsuki. “Anyway, how you feelin’, man?” He asks. Katsuki smirks.

“I’m not worried. Makes me wanna win this thing even more.” I chuckle.

“In a way, yeah, but still.”

“Oh, get over it, brat! Too late to back out now!” Katuski snaps. “Besides, knowing you, you’ll scrape by and be fine, you lucky little shithead.” I roll my eyes. Close enough to a compliment, I suppose.

“...Thanks, Katsuki.” I mumble.

“I wasn’t doing it to help you.” Katuski spits. “Just wanted to shut you up.” I sigh.

“Okay.”

“They haven’t been giving nearly as much screen-time, but this next group is still chock full of talent!” Dad proclaims and we watch another group march determinately out of another hall. “Welcome, Hero Course Class 1-B!” The crowd doesn’t let out the cheering and I spot the silver-haired guy who yelled at 1-A a while back. He looks super determined and ready for anything. I smirk, feeling a little of that energy rub off on me. It doesn’t do any good to fret and worry myself to nothing over something I can’t predict, so I just had to grit my teeth and get through it. More students pour out of the halls and Dad continues the introductions. “Next up, General Studies Classes C, D, and E!” I grin and look over, happening to see Hitoshi in the midst of his class. “Support Classes F, G, and H! And finally, Business Courses I, J, and K! Give it up for all of UA’s first-year contestants!” Once we get to the center, where a podium is set up, everyone’s shocked to see Midnight standing there, waving a short whip. I blink. Oba Nemuri is the Chief Umpire!?

“Now, the introductory speech!” She calls.

“Uh...someone should talk to Ms. Midnight about what she’s wearing.” Eijiro mumbles. I nod, looking anywhere but at Oba Nemuri.

“I mean, I know that’s her normal hero outfit, but...could she have worn something else just this once?” I grumble. She’d always been like this and I always found it an incredibly odd experience hanging out with her.

“Seriously, that costume should come with a warning,” Denki adds.

“Is that really appropriate apparel for a high school game?” Fumikage concludes. I, for some reason, didn’t like the blush on Eijiro’s cheeks. Which was stupid. I didn’t know why it bugged me, so I look away, happening to see Mineta’s gleeful expression. I smack him and glare him down. He pouts but doesn’t leer at my aunt-figure anymore.

“Silence, everyone!” Oba exclaims, whipping to grab everyone’s attention. “And for the Student Pledge, we have…” I gulp, praying she wouldn’t pick me. “Katsuki Bakugo!” Shocked murmurs ring the crowd, but no one’s more shocked than 1-A. We knew him and we knew this would not end well. At all. Izuku leans to Hanta.

“He’s the First Year Rep?”

“I guess the hothead did finish first in the entrance tests.” Hanta replies.

“Only for the Hero Course Exams.” A girl from Shinso’s class (I think) grumbles. Izuku winces.

“Oh. Right.” He amends.

“That girl obviously hates us.” Hanta mumbles under his breath.

“And we’ve got Bakugo to thank for them not liking our class,” Denki adds. I bite my lip as Bakugo walks up the podium. Even the crowd waits in bated breath for what Katsuki would say.

“I just wanna say…” Katsuki begins. I frown. Please be normal, please be normal…. “I’m gonna win.” I pale. Shit! Katsuki, no!

The crow boos and threatens and is in general not happy with Katsuki as he walks back down.

“Why would you be so disrespectful!?” Tenya exclaims, arms waving wildly around. “You’re representing us all!” Katsuki just turns and gives us a thumbs down.

“Not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory.” He grumbles. From Class 1-B, I see that silver-hair guy grit his teeth and stalk forward a little, glaring at Katsuki.

“I’m gonna crush this overconfident jerk!” He screams, raising a clenched fist. “I can’t wait to knock him down a size!” I sigh heavily. I wonder what’s going through Katsuki’s head right now. He claims he wasn’t nervous and even publicly vowed to win, but there seems to be something about him that says he’s just making a show, pushing himself...but still. What a way to start the Festival…

“Without further ado, it’s time for us to get started!” Oba Nemuri calls as the screens shift from ‘introductory speech’ to ‘first game’.

“This is pretty nerve-wracking,” I whisper to Eijiro. He nods.

“Yeah...and now we have everyone gunning for us, thanks to Blasty over there.” I sigh, then nod and refocus on what Oba’s saying.

“This is where you begin feeling the pain!” She calls. “The first fateful game of the Festival!” As she swipes her whip, a hologram appears and displays a lottery style spinning title. It continues spinning...as does my stomach. What on earth would we have to do? It finally halts and I pale.

An obstacle race!? What?!

“Ta-da!” Oba cheers. I gulp. Oh boy… “All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest!” She explains, the hologram visualizing it with graphics. “The track is 4 kilometers around the outside of the stadium. I don’t want to restrain anyone...at least, not in this game, so as long as you don’t leave the course, you’re free to do whatever your heart desires!” I squirm a little, flushing. She looks a little too happy to be talking like that. She then sobers just a little. “Now then, take your places, contestants!” As the crowd cheers, we walk over to the start line. I gulp. This was it.

It was time to make my mark and hopefully start my path to being a pro-hero. I didn’t know what awaited me out there, but all I could do was put my best foot forward and try my best, right? No matter what happens, I’ll be okay if I just do what I can.

Above the crowding students, three green lights are lit, the first one turning off as the countdown begins. Beside me, Eijiro smiles at me and gives me a thumbs up as the next light turns off. I grin back at him and take a deep breath.

The final light turns off as Oba cries ‘begin!’ I tear forward, instinctively grabbing Eijiro’s hand, but we were quickly separated and jostled and shoved by the pressing students.

“How about some killer commentary, honey?” Dad’s voice somehow reaches over the multiple voices and I almost laugh.

“How did I let you talk me into this?” Mom replies under her breath, but there was almost a hint of amusement in her voice.

“What should we be focusing on in the early stages of the race?” Dad asks.

“The doorway.” Mom replies shortly. I chuckle despite being smushed between two students.

Just up ahead, as I’m coming up on the end of the entryway, I see ice and feel the air cooling rapidly as Shoto freezes the ground and up the walls. Gritting my teeth, I jut out a tiny platform, just big enough for my foot, and launch myself up and as far out as I can, creating another small platform when I need it. This was not in my plans, but there was nothing to do about it. I can’t turn this into water, so I had to find another way across. Shit! This will really limit what I can do for the other obstacles!

Luckily, Eijiro was right behind me, using the small platforms I’d made to get further along the ice.

“Nice trick, Todoroki!” Momo calls sarcastically, and he looks back to see the number of people that had dodged. Katsuki was using his blasts to keep airborne.

“I won’t let you get away so easily, you icy-hot bastard!” Katsuki roars, blasting his way closer as I make another platform. Even releasing the platforms once Eijiro jumped off them resulted in more blood sugar gone than I wanted. Who knew what was in store, but I had no real other choices. I just had to be smart about using my Quirk from here on out.

I couldn’t afford to be careless or I’d- -Shot!! Those vibrations feel like...no way!

They have the robots from the practical exam in this race?! I skid to a stop on the edge of the edge, feeling for water. Shit! Nothing! “What is it?” Eijiro asks, just as Mineta goes flying ahead of us, slammed by a huge metal arm. The robot comes into view, with other robots, seconds later.

“That!” I point. Eijiro hardens his forearms.

“Beat ‘em once, right? This’ll be a piece of cake!” I grin, feeling more confident now I thought about it that way.

“You’re ri- -Shoto, what the hell?!” Shoto is at the head, closest to the robots, ice swirling from Shoto’s right hand in a circle, getting larger and larger until he swept it at the robots. They were frozen solid, at least the frontrunners. I run forward as everyone else was still frozen in shock, Eijiro right behind me as well as that silver-headed guy.

“Careful now,” I could hear Shoto calling over his shoulder as the robots creak and groan, shuddering under their own weight. Taking another look, I pale. “I froze them when they were off their balance. On purpose!” Before I could move another step, before I could do anything, the robot nearest us collapsed and all of a sudden, my butt hit the ground and I am enveloped by dust and ice shards that prickle my skin. I didn’t even know what had happened till I looked where Eijiro and the other guy were standing, only to see a pile of frozen robot parts.

“Eijiro!” I scream. Was he under there?! Had he been crushed!? “Eijiro, hang on!” I am running forward before I can think, not knowing what to do, but desperately hoping Eijiro was okay.

[k-llama-llama]

Crescent: Episode 1- Part 3

Survival Show AU: Mixed Group

The first week of shows.

A/N: Watch every performance! It might not be perfect, but it shows the style they’re going for.

Then send in your votes! Who do you want to stay!

Asks are OPEN : Talk to me! What did you think? Who are you rooting for?

MASTERLIST

“Ladies and Gentlemen..” Sehun announced. “Welcome to the first week or our new survival show, Crescent!”

The stood in front of a crowd of five hundred people, all of whom were waiting to see some performances, and then vote to decide the trainees fate. There were no posters, no light sticks. They didn’t know who the contestants were, they were just ready to vote.

Backstage, most of the contestants were waiting in the greenroom. Except for Dong-Min, who was first to go and was waiting just off stage.

“Without further delay...our first performance of the evening: Dong-Min!”

Dong-Min stepped onto the stage. He took a deep breath and lay down, preparing for what could potentially be his first and last performance.

DONGMIN’S PERFORMANCE 

As he rose from the final pose, he took a bow and walked very seriously off the stage, trying not to let the cheers get to his head. He’d made a decision to do a dance performance, and he was worried that because he hadn’t show vocal skills, he might be eliminated.

In the Greenroom Soo-Yun was near tears. “That was amazing!” She gasped. “I didn’t know he could dance like that!”

He stepped into the Green room, covered in sweat and pulling on a shirt. None of them could bring themselves to clap. Their competition had just gotten so much steeper. 

“Good job.” Hannah whispered, as she slipped out the door and made her way to the stage.

She listened quietly as she was announced, and then stepped slowly onto the stage. She’d written her rap herself and was very proud of it, but she was beyond terrified that it would be deemed “too emotional” and lose her points. The music started, and she gave it her all.

HANNAH’S PERFORMANCE

It seemed like the audience was slightly caught off guard by her song, but once they began to feel the groove of it she had people fist pumping in their seat. She smiled as she finished, and then bowed very quickly and scurried off stage.

She practically ran to the green room, not even stopping to have her mic taken off. She was too high on the adrenaline. She stepped into the room and Kanna clapped once, very loudly.

“You can rap! I have to say, I did not see that coming!” 

Hannah gave her a little bow. “Thank you.”

Shu patted her shoulder as he left the room. “Good job.”

“Good luck.” She smiled back.

He could certainly feel the pressure as he took to the stage. He was the first of the vocal performances, and while he’d been permitted to perform a chinese song, he was still certain that he would mess something up.

Just stay calm. Remember what you’re doing this for.

The lights came on, and he approached the microphone.

SHU’S PERFORMANCE

The audience was fairly silent during his song, but erupted into cheers when he was done. He gave them a low bow, and then carried the microphone stand off stage and handed it to a stage hand.

Soo-Yun passed him backstage. “You did great!”

“Thank you!” He said, feeling happier than he had in a long time. He’d specifically chosen a happier song to show that he could have a very cheerful and charismatic stage presence, and if the audience was anything to go by, it had mostly payed off.

Soo-Yun adjusted her ball-cap, getting ready to perform. Dong-Min’s dance had been raw and full of emotion, and while her’s certainly had a similar feel, it was a lot more of a hip-hop style.

Still, she had to do well.

“And go!” The stage hand pushed her forward, and she stepped up to centre stage.

SOOYUN’S PERFORMANCE

She smiled as she finished it, knowing that she hadn’t forgotten any steps. That was always her weakness. Soo-Yun improvised so much when she choreographed that sometimes she forgot what the actual steps were supposed to be on stage. 

But the audience was clapping, so that had to be a good sign.

Chung-Ae was standing just of stage, tapping a microphone anxiously as he waited for his cue. After Soo-Yun bowed and hurried off stage, she stopped and patted his shoulder.

“Deep breaths. You got this.”

He nodded. “I know.”

She winked. “There’s the confidence we need.”

He turned to smile at her, just as his name was called and he stepped up to an audience bigger than any he had ever performed in front of. His song choice wasn’t as charismatic or as emotionally driven as Hannah’s had been. Honestly, she’d freaked him out a bit, with a little thing like that being that commanding on stage. But he knew that he just needed to be his best. That was all he could to.

CHUNGAE’S PERFORMANCE

He didn’t even wait for the music to finish it’s fade out. He just rushed off stage. One of the staff told him to slow down, but he just rushed back into the greenroom and collapsed into a chair.

He heard Min-Jee make a noise as she left the room, and then felt a hand on his face. He looked up and saw a very concerned Hannah.

“Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?” She asked, feeling his forehead for any sort of temperature.

He grinned. “No way. That was amazing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it was. You were wonderful.”

They both turned their attention to the screen to watch as Min-Jee took the stage.

Min-Jee, despite being a little more reserved in the way she acted, was very confident in her song choice. It was bold, certainly, but it was sure to grab attention. She knew that her main competition was Hannah, as they were both female rappers. Hannah had been good, but Min-Jee was going to get the audience going.

MINJEE’S PERFORMANCE

She finished with a flourish, and grinned as she left the stage. The audience had cheered, though they seemed sort of taken aback. That’s what she needed. The easiest way to score herself some votes was to put on a show that no one would forget. Writing raps about feelings could wait until after debut, this competition was all about stopping the show.

She stepped back into the room and grabbed a bottle of water. Everyone was silent.

“Good job.” Hannah practically whispered.

Min-Jee raised her eyebrows and winked.

Kang-Dae rolled his eyes as he made his way to his starting position. He could already see that Min-Jee was trying to start drama. And while he was sure most of it was in the spirit of friendly competition, he did wonder whether she truly was realizing that all of her passive aggressive winking was being filmed.

He’d choreographed his dance with one thing in mind: street dance. It was how he’d been discovered, and quite honestly it represented his style better then anything. It was a little playful, a little serious, and fun to watch for an audience.

Which was just what he needed to win.

KANGDAE’S PERFORMANCE

He left the stage on a high. The audience’s cheers seemed like they were a thousand miles away, because he knew that he’d put on a great performance. That was the type of dance that had people clapping along, cheering, throwing money if he’ll toss in a flip.

Dong-Min handed him a water bottle as he stepped into to the room. “You were really good.”

Kang-Dae couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “I know, right?”

Dong-Min chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. They turned and looked back at the monitor, where Zero was making her way to the stage.

She was sort of a wildcard, and she knew that. Everyone else knew that she was vocal line, but not what type of voice she had. It had made her laugh a little when everyone kept asking. One quick search of her name turned up lots of Weibo results.

She was proud of her voice, and of her ability to bring an audience to a standstill, and the song she’d picked tonight was perfect.

ZERO’S PERFORMANCE

The song had a beautiful ending, and she made sure to pause in order to really drive home that effect. She curtsied slightly, trying to emphasize the regalness of her style of performance. As long as it was a song that people would remember, and vote for, then it was enough.

She nodded encouragingly as she passed Jay in the hall. He was doing some sort of nervous tap dance. At least, she assumed it was nerves. It could also potentially be some bizarre way of amping himself up for the performance.

He’d drafted a one-person performance of a group he really admired, 3RACHA. He could only hope that it held up on stage and showed off his talents. The beat hit, and he pulled up his hood and made his way out.

JAY’S PERFORMANCE

He was nervous as hell, but he felt like he covered it well. The shaking hands and the bowed head could all be attributed to his rap style, and the audience defiantly seemed hype about it. He smiled as he dropped the mic and left. That was certainly the best he could’ve done, now he just had to hope and pray that it was enough.

He knew that the folks back home were doing the same thing.

Emma had chosen an english song. She knew that it could potentially be seen as a mistake, but she also knew that her first performance had to be amazing. And while her Korean was good, she was most comfortable singing in english. The song she’d picked was a favourite, and it left lots of room for her to move around the stage and really hype up her audience.

EMMA’S PERFORMANCE

Her parents were at home, staying up late to watch this. She waved at the camera and blew a kiss before she scurried off stage. Zero gave her an approving nod as she stepped back into the greenroom, and Kanna shot her a thumbs up.

“My turn.” Daichi breathed as he stood to leave.

Kanna whooped. “You go, Japan-buddy!”

He gave her a half smile in return.

Daichi had been in Korea long enough that he felt comfortable singing a Korean song. The choice he’d made was a popular song, that he was hoping would add to the fans’ enthusiasm. It was a slower choice, and in rehearsal he had just walked very solemnly forward for the duration of his performance. Still, it was powerful, and that would need to be enough.

DAICHI’S PERFORMANCE

He felt tears spring to his eyes as he finished. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until all of the tension left his body with the last note. He smiled and gave a little wave before he disappeared off stage.

Kanna met him in the hall. She ruffled his hair, which wasn’t hard considering she was taller than him in her heels.

He nodded in thanks, knowing that anything he said might distract her from her performance. 

She took the stage with a smile painted on her face. The song she’d chosen was off-brand, and certainly an unusual choice. But it was fun, and she was sure that the viewers would see that.

KANNA’S PERFORMANCE (Skip to 23 seconds)

As she practically skipped off the stage, she was stopped by a stage hand.

“We’re sending you all back out.” The woman said. “Get ready.”

Sure enough, they were called back on stage one by one, all of them met with cheers. 

Sehun stepped onto centre stage, the cheers for him louder than any of the others. He raised a hand, and the crowd went silent. He chuckled slightly before continuing.

“That concludes our first round of performances.” He announced. “Send in your votes now. Tell us who your favourite was! The results will be announced next week!”

The lights went dark.

Okay guys, that is the end of the first week of performances. I really hope you guys like it.

Submit your vote HERE! Tell me who your favourite was and stay tuned for the announcement!

[serialfirstdater]

Toronto #5: Mr. 100 to 0

Boy this story is a doozy! Almost every single friend of mine knows about Mr. 100 to 0 by now and if you know the story, you know why this is my nickname for him.

So as you know, being a tall Asian girl trying to find tall Asian guys to date in Toronto is a struggle. So when I came across Mr. 100 to 0 on Coffee Meets Bagel who liked me, I was intrigued as he was 6′1 (like a rare Pokemon). Face-wise he looked decent and I could tell that he was fit. He’s an accountant so he had a bit more of that serious demeanor in his photos. I matched him and we got talking.

We had a decent conversation going and he eventually asked to meet up when he came back from his Montreal trip. I asked if he would be down to do a videocall first just to save time. He was the first person to reject doing a videocall with me because he believed that videocalls never worked out for him and he’d rather meet in person. I was like, “Okay, I am willing to meet if you are willing to accept my deal-breaker”. Which he did so we set up a date.

When I told some friends about how he was not willing to do the videocall, everyone was saying this was a red flag. I am obviously a lot more forgiving and not as cynical so I took the guy at his word. However, one friend pointed out based on the photos I showed her of him, she thought he wouldn’t be a match for me since he seemed more introverted. Normally I go into dates without any expectations, but with everything I was hearing from my friends, I actually went into the date expecting it to be a dud. Maybe a pleasant conversation at best and it would not come fruition.

First Date

The day finally came and I got to the Korean fried chicken restaurant a bit earlier than him. It was no more than a five minute wait when I saw a tall Asian guy passed me. I waved at him and of course it was Mr. 100 to 0. I was immediately attracted to his appearance, despite that he had his mask on still. When we went inside and were seated, he took off his mask. My thoughts were correct and I was immediately into him.

This was the first time I went on a date with a guy where I found him so physically attractive. This probably gives you an indication that most guys I swipe right and go out with, I would generally be “eh” to. Very rare do I find guys that I think are super cute from the get-go off the apps. I think most of the time men I’m genuinely attracted to are unattainable since they normally don’t go for girls like me lol. However, after meeting Mr. 100 to 0, I am definitely raising the bar in terms of appearance the next time I am swiping cause now I understand what my girlfriends are talking about when they want someone they are immediately attracted to. Whereas in the past, I always allowed personality to raise my interest level for a guy. 

During our date, I made sure that he knew I was very interested in him. I usually don’t flirt because I realized then it’s not because I can’t flirt, it’s because I usually don’t have such a strong interest in someone so early on. And even if I did, it definitely been awhile. 

I just knew during this date, I wanted to lock down a second date. And my directness ended up working after all! I was determined to climb this man at all costs.

Second Date

For our second date, he picked me up at the subway station and drove us to a pho restaurant. I usually don’t eat Vietnamese food out but hey, he was craving and I eat everything. Throughout dinner, we continued to flirt and had a good time getting to know each other. After we walked around the plaza we were in, trying to figure out which bubble tea shop we want our bubble tea from. Throughout this time, I felt like I was a teenager, giddy and excited as we kept bumping into each other during our walk. Eventually he put his arm around me and I knew it was my time to finally grab his hand. We walked hand in hand. Shortly after, we found a bubble tea shop and ordered our items before sitting down at a nearby bench to chat.

Eventually it was time to drop me home. When we got to my place, I ended up going for the kiss when he went in for the hug. Oops. But hey, it led to a long make out session that lasted for 20 mins lmao. Basically living out the teenage years I never had.

The Hookup

Originally, we were gonna meet-up on a Thursday for a third date. However, Mr. 100 to 0 notified me that his parents were gonna be gone for a few hours on Wednesday and considering that we both live at home, I didn’t want to waste this opportunity. (Remember, I wanted to climb this man). I drove 50 minutes to get to his place cause I couldn’t waste anymore time. 

When I entered his room, the first thing I noticed were all the Spongebob posters and cut-outs that you would print plastered on the walls. As in, there was a random picture here and a random picture there. Slapped on the wall haphazardly. He also had an old Napolean Dynamite poster that was frayed and discoloured due to age. Essentially, I was transported into a high schooler’s bedroom and it was not at all sexy. However, being into Mr. 100 to 0, I chose to ignore this for the time-being as I was there for one thing only. 

We immediately got busy and technically I let the foreplay skipped over. This may or may not have led to the downfall of what was going to happen next. 

When my hand went downwards (on top of his pants), I realized that I might not like what  was underneath. It was this immediate dread in the back of my mind. However, I was already here and had gotten this far. I couldn’t really stop. 

And to my internal dismay, I definitely did not like what I saw when the pants came down. At that very moment, I realized how much size did matter to me. Within an instant, my interest shot down to 50% and it proceeded to go down at a rapid decline. We did the deed but man, I would rate the experience 2/5. And 2/5 is below average for me. Which is not good at ALL. 

Mr. 100 to 0 had absolutely no idea what I was feeling inside as I wrestled with my thoughts as he wrapped himself around me post-coitus. He was happy as he haven’t had sex since November. And after we were done, he proceeded to motorboat me... Like three times...

I knew by our second date he was a lot more childish and immature than I originally thought. And truthfully if the hookup went well (*cough*ifhewasatleastaverage*cough*), I’d probably find everything he did to be endearing. However, when you start to lose interest in someone, you start to see all the little things that bother you.

Either way, I left after acting normal as I could while my brain was still processing what had happened. Afterwards through text, I was definitely a bit more distant and freaking out to my friends. I felt like I was Samantha from Sex and the City in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU6wUqys9bU

Third Date

The next day we met up again, since this was scheduled prior to the hookup and I wasn’t sure about cancelling. I dreaded seeing him and as time came closer to when I had to see him, the more I was freaking out internally (up until the actual date). Just knowing that internally I rather not see him anymore was pretty much at death’s door for this potential relationship. Literally two days before I wanted this guy as my boyfriend!!

After we had food, he asked if I wanted to go somewhere else. I wasn’t feeling it at first but eventually agreed. As we started talking, I told him I had something to tell him. He knew it was bad news from my tone and although it was rough, I admitted to him that I was uncertain about us because there may be some bedroom incompatibility. However, I was only bringing this up because I am problem-solver and I felt that if I didn’t, it was gonna end a lot faster. I rather tell him so if there’s any way to salvage this, we could deal with it ASAP. 

Obviously he did not take it too well and said that he needed to process this. I kept his size out of the equation as it is something out of his control but bedroom incompatibility is a thing for many people. I just realized that this part of a relationship is a lot more important to me than I thought. But hey, that’s part of dating. To figure out what you want or don’t want in a relationship.

He then told me that he wasn’t planning to bring something up until later after we started dating properly, but he said since everything was now out in the open, he thought he’d tell me. He prefaced it by saying that this was “out of care” (you can be the judge). He revealed to me that I have a bit of B.O. whenever we were intimate. Granted, I do have hyperhidrosis and it’s not pretty on a hot day. He told me that he doesn’t smell anything when we stand comfortably apart but only when we were together. He asked if no one told me this before and I replied, “Nope.” Trust me, I grew up with myself so I know when it could happen but both times when I was with him, I showered the night before at the very least. I did know that when I went over to hookup, I was sweating profusely due to the heat. So it may be that, which I was hoping wasn’t gonna be a problem but I guess it was.

One friend said perhaps he just didn’t like my scent and that’s a thing where people don’t like certain people’s pheromones. Another friend said he seemed like the type of person that needed to criticize back when criticized. Third friend felt that he was grasping at whatever he could to hit me back cause his ego was bruised.

Either way, what he said made me to continue losing interest in him. I understood that I hurt his feelings cause no one wants to know that their performance is not good. Most of my friends said that they wouldn’t be able to tell him like I did but I came at it with the mindset I was already losing interest and this was my way of fixing things. If I lost complete interest, I wouldn’t even have tried and cancelled the date. However, by bringing it up, it also showed me what kind of person he is when facing this type of real-life problem. I know my style is quite straight-forward and it’s not for everyone. But someone who’s compatible with me would be able to work with me, despite being hurt. Was this too early to bring up? Of course, but I knew myself well enough at this point.

I told him that I was down to still go out with him one more time to see how things go since we had pre-planned a movie date that Saturday. But it was up to him if he wanted to or not. 

Aftermath

He decided not to message me the entirety of Friday. Which was fine, I was expecting not to ever hear from him again considering how his mood soured for the rest of the night. I proceeded to make plans with a friend after work for Saturday, assuming that I was not gonna see him ever again.

At this point my interest was at like 5%. If he agreed to go out one more time, I would still go. Although truthfully I don’t know if things were gonna return to what they were when I was still so into him.

When Saturday rolled around, he ended up messaging me around 4 PM saying that he was no longer interested considering how I was so distant via text and on our last date. Which was fair enough. I was already over it at this point and moving on with my life.

This concludes my dating experience with Mr. 100 to 0. 

[agoodmanisdead]

Chapter 3: Casting, professionalism and… some backstage stories

At the beginning of any journey, whereas you are an experienced on what you’re proposed to do or not, there’s load of uncertainty and unpredictability.

As I was just starting the project, everything was possible, specially not good surprises on the way. The moment I shared in the group that we would need help with things like digital marketing, production, edition and so on, things started to become different.

We had two actors out of the project. Both said they wouldn’t able to make it, as they had a busy life, with their jobs and personal stuff.

Then I talked with Valeria (Rizzato): "ok, we all have personal questions to do, and they are our priorities in our lives, we need to survive, pay the bills etc, but… we need to do what is needed to do! I mean, if we want to take our artistic careers seriously, we have to find time to develop it".

At this time, I was starting to be part of a Brazilian group called Integral Artist Community (Portuguese: Comunidade do Artista Integral, see how similar are these Latin originally words!) and one point that our mentor, Marcela, said is that we need to see our jobs, as artists, not like the other ones.

If we choose to be artists, professional ones, that want to make a living from that, we need to understand that our journey is quite different from the other ones.

In other words, we need to be entrepreneurs of ourselves, otherwise, the chances we live by our artistic careers would be close to zero, as we’d depend on selections, auditions, other people hire us (and for unknown, this is even harder, we all know that).

This way, we kept the track and tried to figure out how to solve this. Even the characters were created specially for these actors, things like that can happen at any production, and now I understand why other scriptwriters advise to not create a character for an actor (or exclusively for a specific one).

Thankfully, the new faces were right on the road, closer than anything and with a special touch: a spontaneous touch of comedy on their acting.

Anavi Ruiz, Spanish, I met during an Extra job in Ireland, when we exchange contacts and kept talk in the posterity. Marcello Fidelis (picture), Brazilian, I met during a stand up gig also in Dublin: my first and, so far, unique stand up comedy in English (or, at least, a trial). He was on the audience and did a good job on the stage.

I invited both and they were really open-minded to be part of the project.

Recently, I heard from an experienced producer, writer and actor, that the key to invite people for your artistic project (despite no budgeted) is to show professionalism. Today (10-08-21), as I was listening to the Stearable podcast at Spotify, I got even more confident about how reasonable is this.

Instead of just invite them to be part, I sent them the series bible. At that time, I had a document telling the AGID objective. Every series has one.

They read it and see that, even if they were investing their time with no money evolved, they were part of a serious project, not just an idea in the air. As they said YES, we booked a meeting and the process kept the track.

Baby Jane

After a few days, Anavi told me she was, unfortunately, unable to be part of it, as her parents were seriously ill and she had to stay closer to give support.

Note: I have to say that this project really changed myself not only professionally, but mainly personally. I don’t remember loads of experiences in my life where I had enough courage to command a group.

When the process started seriously, I had to be a leader. I had the ideas on my mind and everyone needed to be clear about them. I researche and this series would be my project for the master. There were no options. I had to move on.

So I just said to her: "Ana, really sorry about your situation, I totally understand; just think a little bit more about your decision. We won’t take loads of hours of your life. We can handle it easily, no pressure".

She apologized and left.

I started to look for another actress to Jane’s role.

A few days later, she texted me asking to be part again.

She still on the project and her performance, as Jane, is outstanding. She is naturally funny, expressive and flexible to hear directions. A talented, intellectual and professional artist. The egocentric and feeling hurt Jane is on good hands.

Jane’s character is directly an inspiration from Robert Aldrich’s 1962 classic “What ever happened to Baby Jane”, which shows a falling actress who fights to not accept her career ending.

Jane's character not only aims to be an aesthetics inspiration from the film and its respective psycho-biddy genre, but herself has a very own voice: she claims about film industry prejudice against mature actors.

Backstory

In A Good Man Is Dead, Jane, in the past, lived her golden years in theatre and low-budget films, but her egocentric personality took her to be evolved with controversial stories in the backstage of the productions she was evolved.

She met the photographer Winston Lumiere still on his earlier professional years. Not experienced, he took loads of pictures of her with almost no payment. In exchange, she introduced him to other people.

Because of this, she claims she was “responsible” for his rise in the artistic world and that he left her after his take off (she talks this during her monologue in the “zero” episode / pilot).

Years later, to survive, Jane has to work as an Extra. Her connection with “Dorian” (my character) starts when she meets him in a cheap restaurant in Dublin, where both live.

Dorian (I’ll talk about him in other chapter) works as waiter and sings jingles for almost each client who pops up to have a meal on his place. He creates old-fashioned-styled songs for people with a little or any patience to listen, as they are hungry. One of this is Jane, that eats on his restaurant only because of the prices.

Jane also is connected to Oscar, a transmale model (deserves a special chapter). She falls in love with him and, just like Winston, introduces him in her social circle. He rises in his career and they break off as soon as he gets notoriety. The story repeats and she complains about his narcissistic personality all the time (as if herself wouldn’t be a narcissus one).

Jane is naturally funny and a complex character. Whoever I showed the 1st season trailer, people were really delighted by Ana’s performance. Jane/Ana is a promising character with a huge potential to get laughs from audience (even I’m thinking to reserve her some dramatic moments, in a way to give her a balance on the comedic tone).

A new Laura

When I thought that finally we could begin, we had one more rock on the road. The actress who would perform Laura, the mysterious, noir-styled politician, was totally mute on the group. She rarely said one word on the whatsapp. For myself, she took days to answer and I had to insist constantly to have her response.

At that time, the monologues were already shared between all the components. Time was going by and I didn’t want it to take longer than necessary.

So I was talking directly with each one, giving them support on their questions, actively. This actress silence took me to have a little word with her and say a see you soon.

I told her she could be part on the project in another moment (as we have one more female character to be part in the last season). She didn’t say anything, as usually. Goodbye, little princess.

Laura’s role was now looking for another woman. It had to be an actress with some sex-appeal, as the reference for Laura was born from the noir crime films.

In my mind, one more friend: Monique Angeli. Brazilian, I met her during an acting workshop placed in a Dublin’s bar underground (The Dublin Actors Workshop).

A few months later, we were sharing an apartment with other mates, between Brazilians and Mexicans (my entrance on this house is a film itself. I need write personal memories urgently).

Though Monique had a not long formation on acting, she was naturally funny, sarcastic, like if with a spontaneous theatrical mood/personality. That was the most important.

I offered the role. Nervous and Anxiously, she agreed, and a few days after, she promptly record Laura’s monologue, in a very good shape. And she is still with the group and loving the crazy surprises we’re creating for the story and her character.

After Ana, Monique and Marcello’s integration, we could carry on.

And in the next chapter I’ll talk about the adventure of not only be an actor and writer, but the experience of being a director. The actors needed someone to help them to explore the nuances and internal characteristics of the persons they were acting.

The role to do this was up to me (but Valeria Rizzato helped me substantially on this goal, and she deserves a special chapter as well, with her “Weirdo Wendy” and her participation on all the steps of A Good Man Is Dead”).

SEE YOU SOON!

AND, OF COURSE: TO BE CONTINUED

(let's keep this vintage charming sentence).

[thedeaditeslayer]

The Deadite Slayer Exclusive: Ash vs. Evil Dead. Season Three Review

WARNING: This review may contain suggestions and mild spoilers. We recommend not reading it if you want to go in completely blind. The review is mostly spoiler free and is meant to give a personal point of view of this year’s dish of Ash vs. Evil Dead. 

Season three is well on its way and the writers this season seem to definitely know the direction that our Ghostbeaters will be heading. Season three sees the return of Ruby but she’s not playing nice this time. Ash, Kelly and Pablo are expanding their team as well. Our two new additions are introduced to us as Brandy, Ash’s newfound daughter, and Dalton, a member of the Knights of Sumeria. The official poster’s tagline suggests that our heroes will be facing an ultimate test and after I got a good preview, I can most definitely agree that this season is going to end with a big bang.

Cougie, the school’s official mascot, gone deadite. (Courtesy of Starz)

There is a lot of positives in both the main story and the little details this year. The writers have decided to get creative with the deadite encounters this season. There’s not one episode without Ash and company having to dish out some deadite carnage whether they’re working together or separated on missions. The original trio will be splitting up this season as all three seem to face their own demons and deal with their own personal struggles. Ash has to deal with being a father, Kelly has to make a choice on who to trust, and Pablo continues to cope with his relationship with the Necronomicon. However, season three will find ourselves wondering how Pablo will evolve as he becomes a “Brujo Especiale” as a secondary focus alongside Ash’s attempts at fatherhood as primary.

As for the tone of season three, don’t expect it to be getting any more serious. We are very much getting the same tone as the last two with dirty humour and Ash just being Ash. While this is true, we found that Starz’s latest “Who’s Your Daddy” promos don’t represent the season well at all. They seem to suggest that Ash is going to be full on asshole but this couldn’t be any further from the truth. While Ash is still his bumbling self, he actually seems both frustrated and concerned with Brandy. We can deeply tell that Ash will fight for her and prove that he’s not the crazy Ashy Slashy that the town once chanted. His constant missteps and efforts are balanced which is consistent with his character but shows a bit of a different side at the same time.

Brandy checks on her newfound father in this promo photo for season three. (Courtesy of Starz).

One of the huge pluses this season is the beautifully crafted sets. We’re not going to be snubbed on the makeup and wardrobe department either. We are still treated to Brock’s house, as well as sets such as a sperm bank, the Elk Grove high school, the hardware store (and its dirty little secret) and Ruby’s new headquarters; the high school’s guidance counsellor’s house. The last of the bunch is my personal favorite as it’s a huge house that is similar to age, size, and vibe to Brock’s house and makes for a great set for a certain mischievous deadite showdown. Kelly, Pablo, and Brandy all have their own interesting styles that also helps keep the show fresh. Brandy’s attire stands out in particular for the variety which is in response to the events and situations that the finds herself in.

Our main theme of season three is the relationship between Brandy and Ash. Upon suffering a loss, Brandy is forced to live with Ash and then ultimately make the decision on whether to trust him or not. Ruby’s conniving schemes are devised to get Brandy on the wrong side and to turn her on Ash. Combining this with Ash’s attempts to gain her trust thrusts poor Brandy into the middle of deadite mayhem where she is found fighting for her life. While this plot line is commending for showing Ash’s softer side, the execution on Ruby’s part does leave me guessing why she’s deciding to be manipulative instead of simply taking action. This is rather a confusing choice. It could possibly be her way of toying with Ash or instead the writers’ way to drag out something that could have lasted only a couple of episodes to much longer than it should have. 

Lucy Lawless poses as Ruby in this promo photo for Ash vs. Evil Dead season three (Courtesy of Starz). 

If there’s another thing that Ash vs. Evil Dead also traditionally does, it’s have a rocking soundtrack and this season does it in strides. Music from the seventies and eighties are found throughout the episodes as well as ending themes. As before, the ending theme always plays out the last scene of each episode wonderfully. We are treated to music from artists such as Iggy Pop, Air Supply, a-ha, George McCrae and even a hilarious cover from Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless! When we are treated to the music being in episode, it always plays to the contrast of the scene. It doesn’t matter if a deadite is trying to chew its way through its victims because that car radio is blasting classic eighties soft rock ballads all the same. The music is a part of the show’s sense of humour as it always was and should be. On top of this, there are soundtrack themes by Joseph LoDuca from previous seasons that we may recall that also makes the show feel familiar.

While our cast is touring and currently promoting the show, not all of them present this season is joining in. We’re talking about the return of Brock (Lee Majors) whom we get to revisit for a solid two episodes. Fans dying to know what Brock wanted to tell Ash are going to get their fix this season. Brock left season two way too early so to get him back for a full two episodes is very welcome. It is practically the only time we see him get to talk to Ash as a father who finally understands him. For such a short return, Lee Majors still shines as the chemistry between him and Bruce Campbell is completely undeniable. 

We have the return of a previous character but Dalton on the other hand seems to be more of a throwaway character for a new addition. Not much is known about him and we never get to connect with him. It becomes apparent quick that he is there to create tension between Pablo and Kelly and to also introduce the Knights of Sumeria as a part of this season’s plot. Don’t expect to get too invested in him.

Lindsay Farris poses as Dalton in this still from Ash vs. Evil Dead season three. (Courtesy of Starz).

The one thing that I found myself questioning throughout all of season three is where is Linda B? Throughout the first half that I was treated to, there is no trace of her to be found. This in my opinion is season three’s largest flaw. The Ghostbeaters haven’t left Elk Grove and we finished season two with her by Ash’s side so why has she suddenly vamoosed? This seems to be a product of lazy writing as we’re not even given an explanation of what happened to her. Is she still friends and visits Ash? Did she simply move on and leave Elk Grove? There’s not much sense made out of this as this season treats it as if she didn’t even exist. At least Linda B. will now be the second love interest to not bite the dust (other than Sheila). I do acknowledge that the small love interest subplot has been thrown out this season in favour of a daughter/father one so it seems that the writers didn’t give a damn or Michelle Hurd simply couldn’t come back.

Bruce Campbell and Michelle Hurd pose in this still for Ash vs. Evil Dead season two. (source)

Don’t fret on the little complaints though. Season three is very entertaining and well worth your hard earned money. Seeing Ruby back as full on bitch along with the evolution of Pablo, Ash, Kelly, and Brandy has caught my attention and the deadite fight sequences are always a hoot. I cannot make it more apparent that despite its minor flaws, I’m going to be sure that I’m tuning in to Super Channel (here in Canada) on February 25th to support our favourite deadite slayer as he takes on his biggest challenges yet; a high school mascot, the local sperm bank attendant, a huge ass demon from hell, and that bratty teenage kid!

Ash vs Evil Dead premieres on Starz February 25th at 9pm ET/PT.

Thanks to Starz for the advance access to season three!

Check out our latest exclusive interviews with Arielle Carver-O’Neill here and Ray Santiago here.